


The Crew

by BethBoca



Series: Little Pattillo and Vagabond [1]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: Badass Ryan, F/M, Fake AH Crew, Love/Hate, Relationship(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-19
Updated: 2016-10-24
Packaged: 2018-08-23 07:49:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 51,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8319769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BethBoca/pseuds/BethBoca
Summary: This is a Fake AH Crew story.Being Jack Pattillo's little sister comes with faults. Dead family, no contacts I can trust, and being a top key to getting my brother's attention. Then again, it also comes with perks. Protection is one. So is money. But never did I think Ryan Haywood would become one of those perks.





	1. Chapter 1

The nights are colder now that winter has arrived. Cold enough to make me move from Texas to a much warmer climate of California. Los Santos, to be exact. First I was going to move to Vice City or San Andreas, but my brother decided to change my mind. I walked towards the apartment building to enter it and go to the elevator. You learn a lot about a city when your brother practically runs it; Of course, that's in the notorious way. I step from the elevator and to the door down the hall that blocked strangers from entering Jack's apartment. I decided it was okay to take up his offer and stay at his place until I got my own. So far it's been four months. Within those four months I have been protected by Jack and his gang/friends. They called themselves The Fake AH Crew for some odd reason. They were complete morons and fools, but I adored all of them. They all treated me like I have always been one of them. Of course, I haven't exactly done anything to be one of them. I'm just Jack's sister for Christ sakes. I've stolen food before, but that's about it. Jack taught me how to handle a gun and knife so I could survive a rape attempt or robbing. Again, I have never actually had to use those tactics.

"I'm home!" I shout out to the large apartment. Jack's voice comes from down the stairs.

"Oh, good!" He rushes up them and nods his head towards the door, pushing me right back towards the hallway. "Because I gotta head out and I'm gonna drop you off at the safe house." Did I mention I'm almost never actually in this apartment for long? Every single time I come in it's like I'm leaving again and going to the safe house- which I should practically call my home. I cook and clean all the while I'm there and treat it as if I've lived there forever. I have practically the whole time I've been here.

"Another job?" I whine. "Will I ever actually sit down in this apartment?" He huffs and chuckles afterwards, grabbing his keys.

"Trust me, I feel the same." That's saying a lot for Jack since he's lived here for eight years. I follow him to the elevator that lowered us to the garage. Jack goes quickly to his Zentorno. I climb into the passenger's seat and buckle up, throwing my head back on the seat. "How was work?" I shrug and grab my cell, unlocking the screen.

"Same as usual." I reply. "Men eyeing me just because they think they get free drinks for an attempt at flirting." Jack shrugs while I click on my messenger.

"I told you being a bartender here wasn't the same as in Texas."

"Yeah, yeah." I open my messages with Caiti, Jack's girl. We were close ever since they met. She was a video producer for films here in Los Santos. She was mainly for effects and what good clips to use and what ones were useless. I type in a message to her quickly.

Going to the safe house. Jack's never gonna let me even sit in that apartment...

It takes no time at all for her to reply. We were rounding the corner to the boulevard near the house.

He loves you, D. He just wants you safe.

I lock my phone and tuck it back into my jacket. The car comes to a stop and I see the familiar pink color of Geoff's Adder in front of us. Another babysitter?

"Now I know what you're thinking," Jack starts, "You're a big girl, you don't need a babysitter, yada-yada... Listen. If you get hurt, that's all I had right there. Same to you if I did. We got no family, Diane." I bite my tongue, knowing the speech well. "So please, stop thinking that this babysitting is overprotective. Okay?" I nod my head and he smiles, leaning over and hugging me like he does before every job. It was just an 'in case I don't return' kind of thing. I hated it but knew it would be necessary at some point. I get out of the car and walk towards the house where Geoff waited by the door, arms over his chest and leaning against the wall. They all had different ways of waiting for me. Geoff had to watch and make sure I didn't try and run for some reason, Jeremy trusted me enough to stay inside and wait for me to come inside, Michael and Gavin were pretty similar, but different in the same. Michael would hand me a game controller and we pretty much played games the whole time I was here. Gavin would give me a sketchbook I had stowed away in one of the rooms and I would draw all day. Ryan, though... His ways were hidden well and I never am able to tell what he will greet me with next. There was cards, then there was gun cleaning, then there was nothing but television and relaxing. He would switch it up and leave me excited to see what we were going to do next. He's only stayed with me three times, though.

"Sup, Pattillo?" I roll my eyes at the common greeting from Geoff.

"You remember that Jack and I share a last name, right?"

"But there's only one of you guys here so." He shrugs with a small smirk under his mustache. "Come on. I got a surprise for you." I furrow my brow and he opens the door, standing aside so I can look. The house was actually clean. Like, without me even touching it for four weeks it was clean. I looked around and narrowed my eyes at Geoff.

"Something's up. This isn't all of the surprise, right?" Suddenly arms go around me and I squeal. I turn to slap the grabbed but smile when I see it's Adam Kovic, my best friend. I hadn't seen him since two months ago when him and the rest of FakeHaus went on a big mission for Lester or Trevor Phillips- one of them.

"What are you doing here?" I question, hugging him. He shrugs and hugs me back.

"I'm the babysitter today." I glance at Geoff but the tattooed man just nods, walking towards his car.

"Wear protection!" He shouts over his shoulder. I roll my eyes at his snickering and pull Adam into the house.

"Wait, Jess hates me though. Why are you here?"

"Because we were friends before Jess and I met. Plus, I know you don't feel for me like that. We're best friends." I nod in agreement and look at the television.

"Games for four hours?" I ask, smiling wide. He nods and races me to the better side of the couch.

 

So, four hours go by the same as usual for a week after Adam comes. Jack knew about Adam and actually planned it, knowing how much I hated being watched all the time. Today, though, as I sat there with Jeremy in the living room of the safe house. I annihilated at yet another racing game.

"Unfair!" He shouts. "I'm the best at racing games!"

"Not anymore, Dooley!" I say with a wide smile. Jeremy's phone rings and he grabs it from the table, answering it with his smile still there.

"Monster Truck." I watch as Jeremy's smile slowly fades and he eyes me, clearing his throat. I could hear gun fire and yelling on the other line. "What do I do with Little P?" I knew that was my nickname since I was the younger of Jack and me. "A-are you sure?" He winces at the audible yelling on the phone and nods. "Yes, sir." He hangs up the phone and stands, my heart suddenly thudding.

"Jeremy?" I ask, voice small. "What's going on?"

"That was Geoff. Stay put." He begins walking to the door but I scramble up and stop him.

"I said what's going on?" I cross my arms and raise an eyebrow. He sighs and looks me straight in the eye.

"Jack's down. They need back-up." My heart stopped for a second but continued when my mouth shot out words before I could think of what was happening.

"Let me help." He is about to protest when I interrupt. "I can handle a gun and a knife. Please, Jeremy, that's my brother." He bites the inside of his cheek and groans in frustration, pulling me out the house with him.

"Geoff is gonna fucking kill me." I was panting with anticipation, worrying for my brother and my own life. I have no idea what I'm doing. Yeah I know Jack trained me with a gun and knife but that doesn't mean I'm good. Maybe I'm good enough... I get into Jeremy's Adder and buckle up as he speeds off to our destination. The closer we get within range the more I recognize. Jack explained that this was the rival's territory. He always told me to try and stay away from this side of town. Were they picking a fight with them? We stop a good distance away and get out, Jeremy grabbing my hand and throwing a gun into it along with an extra magazine. Luckily I knew all the different spots on this gun because it was the one Ryan taught me to clean. "You better know what the fuck you're doing, Diane." I focus on Jeremy's voice and nod, swallowing thickly. I follow him towards the gunfire and yelling. I see Michael and Gavin on the roofs and Ryan and Geoff on the ground. Beside Geoff was Jack, hands covered in blood and gut bleeding. His mouth was dripping with the same red liquid that pooled on the ground beside him. He was breathing without pattern and I caught my breath. I can't scream out for him. I know better than that. I keep close to Jeremy and he looks at a good opportunity to split up, eyeing me. "Go right. I'm trusting you." I nod again and run in the given direction. I hide off on the walls and slowly but surely make my way to Geoff and Jack.

"Move over!" I shout at Geoff, shoving him over a bit.

"Diane?" Both him and Jack say, stunned. I ignore their harsh glares and I know they are cursing Jeremy for this, but I don't care right now. I tear off a strip of my blue tank top and wad it up, giving it to Jack and forcing him to press on the wound. the bullet was still in there but it was on his hip more than his stomach so thankfully it was a fixable wound and didn't hit and vital organs. I work quick, pulling the knife from the belt Jeremy lent me and cutting off the waist band of Jack's own tank top, using it to tie the wad of cloth to his gut tightly. I sit him up and look at the left side of Geoff, seeing him trying to get flanked. I raise the pistol quickly and fire, hitting one in the shoulder and knocking him to the ground and one getting his kneecap blown off. I wasn't good with my aim but it made Geoff notice and turn to kill them before they could react further. Jack makes it to his feet and uses me as a crutch, running with me to better cover and give Geoff more working room. He pants when we make it behind a C-Train cart and I lay him down, shooting two men who tried to follow us. One was a near-miss head shot and the other was a stomach shot. He was going to bleed out but Jack was my focus.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" He asks, angered obviously. I shake my head and point my gun to the air.

"I'm saving my brother's ass, what does it look like?" I reply, just as annoyed. "What happened to the speech? You know, the one you always give: We're all we've got!" I shouted it and he groaned, grabbing his own gun from his hip.

"We will talk about this later!" His hand goes up to his ear and presses on the com he wore in it. "Haywood, think you can get Diane out of here?" I could hear Ryan yelling through the com, which caused Jack to remove it from the drum-busting noise.

"The fuck is she doing here?" He shouted through it. I rolled my eyes and grabbed the com, putting it in my ear.

"Leave me here, Ryan, I'm helping!"

"Like hell!" Geoff yelled in return.

"Why is Diane here?" Gavin and Michael ask.

"Jeremy trusts me so I'm showing him I was telling the truth!" I say, annoyed. "I can help!" Arms go around me and I am thrown over someone's shoulder, making me look down and see Ryan's blue and black jacket. "Ryan-"

"Don't fight!" I do as told and watch Jack maneuvering alright now, the band still tied tight around his gut. I am throws into a car, being buckled by Ryan immediately. I notice it as his own Zentorno and he climb in, speeding off without buckling up himself first. I would usually argue and tell him to buckle up, but I was too angered with him right now. "You could have gotten killed, Diane." He tells me with a heavy sigh. "Could you imagine what Jack would have done?"

"Why is it only about Jack?" I yell, tears in my eyes as the image of my injured brother came to me without adrenaline masking it. "My brother was shot! He was nearly killed and without me there you idiots would have had him bleed out! Could you imagine what I would have done? I probably would have tried to kill you guys or sell you out or something drastic and I just-" I stop myself and shake my head, wiping my eyes. "None of you get it- Jack and I are the same but yet you all put him first. All his choices, his interests, his wants and needs, his are first and you act like mine aren't there! I'm not just a stranger, I'm his fucking sister!" The car comes to a stop in front of the safe house and I glare out the window, seeing people enjoying their day like nothing is wrong when I just saw my brother bleeding on rival's turf. Ryan steps out of the car and I hesitate to follow, but I do. He walks to the house with me in tail. The door unlocks and he presses it open to have me shut it behind us.

"Listen, Anne," he says with a sigh. "I get it. I really do. But you don't understand why we put him first." I listen close to what he's saying. "He always put us first. Even before you sometimes. He'd die to protect us and we'd do the same for him. So when he says to protect you instead, we feel obligated to do it." I hang my head, afraid to look at him because of my shame, and continue to hear his words. "You're his life. And for him to put us before you is something we can never live down. Especially if it's his orders to protect you and we let you get hurt." My head bobs with a simple nod and I clear my throat, looking up at him.

"So because my brother protects you with his life, you feel you need to do the same for me?" He nods at me this time. "But I'm not the one who protected you with my life."

"You protected Jack-"

"My brother."

"-and Geoff." He finishes. Then I remember what I did. I did protect Geoff. I shot those men to give him time. They could have killed me or us if I missed. I bite the inner side of my cheek. All this was true, yes, but I still ain't getting the big picture. When it seemed obvious that I possibly wasn't, Ryan grabbed my shoulders and focused me on him. "There's a lot you don't know about this crew. Hell, you don't even know what Jack has been through for the past eight years. We were scared shitless we would have to call you and let you know he passed away. A few times when he was real bad he told us your number in case we didn't have it. The point is, we all have lives you don't know or understand and yet you still help us. You still clean up the house, cook for us- you make us feel normal, D."

"But what I don't mean to sometimes."

"It doesn't matter- you do it." I stand there and think on my actions. It was true. I did protect them and it doesn't matter whether or not I meant to. I do it and that's that. I stare at Ryan through his mask, still unaware of what his face looks like.

"Wanna play some video games while I cook us something to eat?" I question, clearing my throat. He nods and sighs, going to the couches. I knew after that stunt I pulled that Jack would not let them leave my side. Especially when it comes to me knowing where they are doing a job at. I go to the kitchen and begin cooking up something for us.


	2. Two

So, like I had guessed, Jack left me with babysitters every day. Monday is was Geoff, Tuesday it was Jack himself, Wednesday it was Gavin, Thursday is was Michael, Friday it was Jeremy. So that means that today it was Ryan. Again, I never knew what to expect with the masked man. I walked to the house and opened the door to see Ryan packing a duffel bag full of ammo and guns. I furrowed my brow and watched him, dropping my bag on the floor beside the door.

"Did you go gun shopping?" I joked to him. He stands from the couch and pulls the bag on his shoulder.

"Go and get in the car. I'll lock up." I furrowed my brow and watched him stroll towards me. "It's a surprise. Now get in the car." I don't ask questions any further and do as told. Maybe he was taking me to the job? No, he knows better than to betray Jack's trust. Jeremy knew better, too... Geoff and Jack were still pissed at him for my help. I wait patiently in the front seat of the car while Ryan locks the house and puts his guns in the trunk. He gets into the driver's seat and doesn't say a word while casually coasting off onto the roads. After ten minutes of nice silence and music playing lowly on the radio, we pull up to an Ammunation.

"What's going on?" He doesn't answer my question and instead beckons for me to follow him inside. He grabs the bag and places them on the counter in front of the store owner. The man shuffles through them and nods, opening the door to the gun range. We enter and Ryan hands me headphones for noise cancellation while placing some on his ears, moving the mask forwards to fit them comfortably. I watch him sign to me with a gun in his hand. He slaps the weapon into my open palms and I just stare at it as if it was an unknown object. With confusion covering my face I look back up at the man and he rolls his eyes, putting my arms up and holding my hands against the gun. I was aimed on a metal and paper target at the end of a hollow strip. He wanted me to shoot the gun? Was this target practice? Instead of asking those questions I shot the gun. One hit. It left a hole in the paper in the left side of where his ribs would be. I fired again after a nod from Ryan. That one in the neck. Again and again until finally Ryan stopped me. He placed his hands along my arms and ran his hands down the lengths of them, sending a long shiver down my spine. I ignore it and the flushing heat in my face while focusing on what Ryan was trying to show me. I realized then that it was how straight I kept my arms. If I was going to keep them this nice and straight I should at least aim instead of just holding the gun and feeling lucky. I grip it comfortably and Ryan takes a step back, allowing me to shoot. I do and this time I see what I want to hit. Middle of the chest. It would shatter the bones that encased the lungs and heart. It would be unfix-able at that rate. After a shot of practice, I nail my target on the second try. I aim higher for the middle of the eyes. I hit that one next. I aimed lower now for the dick, knowing I was just wanting a warning shot. I fired and I hit the target. I glance at Ryan with a smile of achievement and see him protecting his groin. Did not think of that... Sorry, Rye. I follow him down the range further and he stops in front of a wall of targets. He hands me a new gun. It was a sub-machine gun. I gripped it on both hilts before firing off the weapon in the a line. I stumbled from the fact I was unsure on how to hold it. I could see Ryan's chest shiver and i knew he was laughing at my stance. I frowned and stopped firing, looking at him with annoyance. He puts up his hands and comes over, holding my torso in place but kicking my feet with his own to widen them. Finally I was balanced correctly and he stepped back for me to fire again. This time it was much easier. The line was steadier and well paced. All I had to do was turn my torso instead of my whole body. I grinned at Ryan and he nodded, taking back the gun and shoving it into his duffel. I follow him to the next line of targets, but these ones were on retractable beams. A shotgun is placed heavily in my hands and I look at the three lined up targets, nodding. I can do this... I raise the gun to my shoulder and avoid resting my face against the metal to run away from the burning sensation it would most likely cause on my cheek. I aimed down the barrel and fired. The shot scattered and hit one in the head but the other two missed. I groaned in frustration and tried again. This time I aimed lower. I fired off two more shots in different angels and still nothing. Ryan was watching me instead of helping me. Did I really need to figure this out on my own? The kick was gnawing on my shoulder harshly and I was sure I would be sore for the next week. I looked at my feet and then to Ryan. He shook his head. So my stance is fine... I rubbed my shoulder and again he shook his head. It was the right height. Was it the way I held it? I shifted the gun more towards my armpit. The pressure suddenly felt right and I eyed Ryan again for approval. He nodded and I rolled my eyes. Could have told me before I felt like my shoulder was gonna get busted. I fired off and sure enough all three targets snapped backwards. I nodded and the gun was ripped from my hands and replaced with another shotgun. This one had a shorter barrel on it. It would most likely get my face with a stray bullet if I held it up. I lowered it to my rib cage and immediately Ryan grabbed the gun, settling it by my hip. I guess I was about to break my ribs? I took hold of the gun firmly and fired it at the newly stood targets. I missed of course, never hitting right on the first try. After three times and a bit of a shift on my left foot, I hit it. All three of them. I followed Ryan out the door of the range and hung up the headphones. We walk out towards the car.

"Hey, so now you know how to handle a gun." I smile and nod, adrenaline pumping through my veins and body tingling from the shock each kick gave it.

"That was so fun!" I say while stopping by the front door of the car. "Let's do it again." He chuckles and shakes his head with a light sigh.

"I can't." He replies. "Jack doesn't even know I took you." I furrow my brow and buckle up in my seat, Ryan doing the same.

"But he trusted you to look after me."

"And I am." He states simply. "I never let you leave my sight now did I?" I laugh lightly.

"All about loopholes?" I question. He nods and turns down the strip of road that had four lights before the boulevard. "So why did you take me there anyways?" He shrugs and stops at a red light.

"You're rusty with the pistol so I imagined you wouldn't be good with any other type of gun." I frown and am about to protest but I knew he was right. I never fired any other kind of gun. A pistol was the one Jack sort-of-trained me with. "With you being a bartender I thought you could use some practice."

"Oh yeah, because I carry around a sub or a shotgun." I remark, smirking. He chuckles and presses the car past the next light.

"Well if you're gonna live in Los Santos you need to open up your options. Plus, you never know when Jack will need you again."

"Are you saying I get to go on jobs?" I ask, excited. I don't understand why I am. Their jobs are stealing from other crews and killing people. He shakes his head and parks in front of the safe house.

"No. Probably never." He says, shooting down my excitement. "But, you make good back-up. We don't really need it a lot of times but you can come in handy." I smirk and follow him out of the car and into the house. I am their back-up now... We open the door and I see Jack sitting on the couch, anger across his face once he sees us.

"Where the fuck have you been?" I am about to speak when Ryan does.

"The gun range."

"Hell to the fucking no, Haywood." He says with a red face.

"Jack, come on, she was great!" Ryan protests.

"I trusted you to watch her!"

"Technically, he did watch me." I input, clearing my throat when Jack glares at me.

"I'll deal with you in a second."

"Hey, come on, she didn't know." Ryan defends. Jack narrows his eyes at him and Ryan groans, putting his hands up. "You weren't gonna teach her how to hold the damn gun right so I did."

"She's my sister, Ryan!"

"Then fucking act like you're scared to lose her!" The room falls tense and silent. Ryan huffs and walks out the door after muttering an apology to me. Jack turns to me and sighs heavily while rubbing his nose where his glasses settle.

"I'm sorry I yelled, Diane."

"Yeah, you should be." I say, walking to him. He looks taken aback by my sudden anger. Did he really think I wouldn't get mad? "Ryan is right, Jack. He taught me because you and I both know you didn't even teach me right. You never thought I'd have to use a gun or knife. You always expected me to stay in Texas and be safe, but I'm not there anymore. Can't you see that I'm here now and you're protecting me for a reason. I'm not protected at the bar every night and day. I'm not watched when I ride the bus home. Anything can happen and like Ryan told me, I need to have my options open." My voice was quiet and I tried to keep it calm so a fight wouldn't occur between us. "All I'm trying to say is that I need to take care of myself sometimes. You're still my big brother no matter what." He smiles softly at me and avoids my eyes.

"You sound like Mom when she would talk to uncle Mark." I laugh lightly and hug him for a quick moment before pulling back. "I'm sorry I blew up on Ryan. He'll cool down hopefully." There's a slight pause between us before he speaks again. "So how was the range?" I smile and look at him with the memories of me shooting different guns flashing past my vision.

"It was great! I learned how to actually hold the pistol and aim. I had the right balance and posture but I never actually aimed correctly. Then with the sub-machine I was sloppy but Ryan fixed my footing and it was so smooth and it felt natural. Then with the shotguns- well, I'm pretty sure I'll be sore for a week because I was holding the gun wrong for like three shots before Ryan finally showed me how to hold it right."

"Too far to the neck?" I nod and Jack chuckles. "It's the armpit. Gotta remember." I nod and continue on with my story.

"Anyways, I fired and all three went down with one shot! Then he gave me a sawed off and if he didn't move the gun down in time I would have a broke rib cage from the kick." Jack nods and grabs my coat from the hanger by the door and my bag. He hands me my coat but holds my bag for me while we exit the building. "It was fun. Ryan didn't think you'd let me go if you knew..." He locks the door behind us and we stroll towards his car around the back.

"I wouldn't have. Because I didn't feel the same way about it as I do now." I glance at him while opening my door and slipping in. He sighs, buckling up with me. "I guess you're both right. You needed that practice." I smile and hug him across the seat. He laughs and shrugs me off with a small smirk.

-

So two days have passed and the pattern has restarted. Usually the pattern changes when someone is hurt and resting or they are needed for a job. Hence why Ryan is almost always never my sitter. Today it was Gavin, Jack busy today and Michael skipping his turn for Gavin's. I was doodling in the sketchpad, filling in shading for the portraits I've drawn of all the crew members. I trained to be a sketch artist for the cops in Texas when I got out of high school but then I said 'fuck it' and dropped the role. Gavin kept peaking over from time to time before returning to Tetris or Pac-Man, whatever one he chose today.

"Which one of us is that?" He asks, trying to focus on the game. He glances back over and smiles at the drawing, Pac-Man swallowing himself on the screen. "Is that me?" I laugh and nod, shrugging.

"Yeah." I reply. "It was easier to shade you in since you are right here. I could get lighting. You know your nose is big, right?"

"Oi!" He shouts, frowning. "You're just like the rest of them!" I laugh and apologize for the inconvenience and flip the page to the next sketch. It was of Michael. He grabs the sketchbook from me abruptly and I pout in disapproval.

"Hey!"

"I just want to bloody look!" He says, fighting my grabby hands. I groan and give up while he flips through. "These look exactly like us! Except I'm cuter than that."

"You wish."

"You really hurt me, Little P." He grabs his chest with a fake pained expression and I roll my eyes, grabbing the book back and tucking it under the couch. the front door opens and I look over to see the rest of the crew. They looked exhausted. I stood and walked over to the kitchen, turning on the stove and gabbing a frying pan. I knew they never expected me to cook but I could always tell when they would hope for it.

"You all take a break and play video games. I'll cook up some dinner and then Jack and I will head out." I say, pouring oil into the pan.

"Actually, you are home." Jack says with a soft sigh. I arch an eyebrow and watch him. "So I was thinking that you know this place as if it is your house, right?" I nod and he continues on while I crack four eggs into the pan, scrambling them. "We all talked about and thought 'Hey, Diane could use her own place.' So, here you go!" I hear keys cling on the counter in front of me. I gasp and run to Jack pulling him into a hug.

"Thank you!" He chuckles and nods, releasing me.

"We were gonna save it for your birthday, but that's in two months so." I nod and go back to the stove, flipping the eggs. When they are to perfection I set them aside on a plate and cook four more, scrambling them like before. It takes about twenty minutes to finally cook everything, but in the end I have a pile of eggs, plenty of bacon of all consistency, and a stack of pancakes. The men all eat as if it's their first or last meal and it always makes me feel appreciated.

"So since this is my house, now, where's the safe house gonna be?" Geoff shrugs and doesn't seem to concerned.

"We won't have one for a while." I frown and shake my head.

"I don't like that. You guys need to be safe from harm when you can't go home." They stay quiet and I sigh, swallowing my eggs. "Well you are all welcome here at any time of the day. Just knock on the door and you've all got a key, so..." They nod their heads and give me warm smiles- well, I'm sure Ryan would smile if he could. Somehow he was able to always reveal only his chin and eat. I finally had enough after nearly five months of it. "Ryan, do me a favor?" He glances up at me. "Take off your mask when you're here. I feel like you don't trust me." The men all look at him cautiously. Was the mask hiding something he was scared to show or did he just use it was an identity protector? Reluctantly, the mask was slowly removed and I saw what I could of his painted face. It was black and white painted with it making it look like his skeleton was showing in his face. His eyes were even more blue without the shading of the mask and his hair fell over his forehead now when the ponytail was loosened. I smile and bite into my eggs. "Thanks." He nods and awkwardly begins to eat. Did he ever take that thing off? The men were all quiet and I looked around, chuckling and shaking my head.

"What's funny?" Michael asks. I shrug and look at him now.

"Just that this looks like a fucking sausage fest."

"Hey, now, that's not funny." Jack inputs, eyeing me. "I'm your brother so one, that's weird, and two, no one here should be a sausage to you." I'm sure that sounded cooler in his head but the men and I all stare at him with odd faces. He ignores us and continues to eat.


	3. Three

I fire off the third shot to the crowd of men using the sniper rifle I borrowed from the crew's weaponry room down in the basement. It's been about four days since I learned how to use it and god damn I am proud of myself. Three bodies down and plenty more to go to help out the men. Jack didn't approve but when Gavin and Michael were taken down on a mission, I had to step in and be their spotter. No one expected a back-up sniper once they knew two were down so I was an element of surprise. As I leaned up to get another shot in I was pelted in the shoulder with a stinging burn that swirled throughout my body. I felt a hole going from one side of my shoulder to the next and I gripped it tight. The com in my ear went off and I focused on Jack's voice coming through.

"How you holding up, D?" He questions. I debate quickly whether to lie to him or not so I decide almost immediately when I see a man raising his gun to me again. I fire off the rifle and nail him between the eyes. I press on the com slowly and squinting in pain.

"I'm doing fine. Just focus on getting the job done with." I slide my back onto the wall and hear shooting stop, revealing it was over within five minutes. I look at my bleeding shoulder and think of what I can do. It was excruciating to move it and I knew firing the rifle didn't help but it was necessary.

"Grounds clear for now. Get out of here." Geoff told me as soon as it was done. I nodded and walked down the staircase to the side of the building I parked Jack's Adder. I borrowed it as part of the mission because I can't afford a car of my own quite yet. I get into the car and inspect my shoulder, peeling back my collar on my tee to see it. It was the width of my pointer finger and it was bleeding nastily. I needed to get home and stitch it up before anyone notices. I try to keep my mind off the pain and focus on the streets and cars around me. I make it home and my head is hurting, heart is pounding, and my shoulder feels worse. The actual soreness from the bullet is starting to come along with the piercing pain and it was almost unbearable. I go to the door and throw it open, but I see Michael and Gavin on the two couches, watching me with confusion.

"Why are you stumbling?" Gavin questions, eyebrows furrowed. Michael's eyes shoot to my shoulder and he shakes his head, patting the couch beside him.

"Come on." I nod and go to take a seat beside him. "Caleb, get in here!" Caleb rounds the corner and immediately his eyes fall on my wound. He sighs heavily and grabs the kit he had on the dining table before coming to me.

"What the fuck happened?"

"I got shot, what does it look like?" Caleb gives me a cold stare while Michael and Gavin chuckle. It was like we were the kids that were all getting sick at the same time so our parents let us hang out instead of going to school. At least, that's what ours did.

"Now isn't the time to be smart." He points out. "Does Jack know?" I shake my head and he tsks his tongue at me. "I'm gonna have to tell him, LP."

"Please don't. Just fix it and he'll never know."

"No, I'm not hiding this from him." He pulls down my collar, but it keeps going to bug him and my wound. I reach down and pull up my shirt completely, covering my bra with it tucked under my armpits. The men all looked tense and I rolled my eyes.

"Oh come on, you guys see girls topless all the time." I comment. Michael clears his throat.

"I see my wife topless and Gavin sees Meg. Plus, when we do it's not a crewmate's sister." He had a point and I suddenly felt out of place.

"He needs to get to the wound though..." They nod in understanding and keep their eyes glued to the video game Michael played. Caleb went straight to work; He cleans the wound and inspects it fully.

"Clean through..." He says with a light sigh in his words. "That's gonna be a bitch to heal. If the bullet was still in there it would be quick and simple. You might not be able to use your shoulder right for months maybe even years." I groan and throw my head back.

"It's my right arm!" I argue. He chuckles and shrugs.

"You shouldn't have gotten shot then, Buddy." I roll my eyes and suddenly a sharp pain goes through the damaged skin. I look and see Caleb stabbing me with a curved needle and using a needle nose looking tool to clip onto the needle each time and pull it and the thread tight. The grinding of skin on thread felt wrong and irritating. I just wanted it to be done with but it seemed to drag on the more Caleb stabbed through my flesh. Finally, he cuts the thread and I sigh in relief. "Alright, other side." I whine and he chuckles, shrugging at me. I turn to face the door and immediately regret it when after the first stitch on the back the front door opens. Jack's eyes immediately fall on mine and Ryan, Geoff, and Jeremy all look away quickly.

"Why is my sister topless on the couch?" Before anyone can respond to Jack's question, he asks another. "Why does she have stitches in her shoulder?" I know he knew why, but I guess he wanted to see if I'd actually tell him. So, I did.

"I was shot, genius." His face stays tense and the men all avoid eye contact with each other. Caleb continues to stitch up the wound while I stare at Jack with pain surging through my body at each stitch.

"And you didn't tell us why?"

"Because I'm fine now." Jack ignores me and comes over to inspect the wound. He groans and looks at me again.

"There's an indent under the stitch. It's clean through?" I stay quiet. He turns to Caleb. "How bad is it physically?"

"A few months to actually use it properly. With her activities being nothing, that is." Jack nods and walks to the liquor cabinet.

"Then that's exactly what she will do." I wait until the stitch is complete before carefully but still angrily throwing back on my shirt. I stand and walk to Jack with my arms crossed over my chest. The shirt stuck to my shoulder from the still wet blood staining it.

"Hell no I won't sit on my ass for months!" I argue. "I have a job, I have your ass to save, and I have shit I need to take care of." Jack shrugs and chugs a shot of Whiskey, pouring another right after.

"Looks like you will have to wait a few months." I groan and spin on my heels while walking to the liquor cabinet myself.

"God dammit you've always been such an overprotective asshole, Jack!" I grab a full bottle of Vodka and storm over to the couch again, spinning off the cap and throwing it backwards at Jack, who grunts in annoyance.

"Alright, cool it, you babies." Geoff says, stepping into the argument. When Jack and I both send him glares at the same time he sighs heavily. "You two are both protective. Get over it. We know that you try hard to keep each other alive because you're both all you've got, but fuck is it annoying!" He turns to Jack and points at him. "You need to back up and let your sister live her life as a grown woman." I nod and sip on the bottle of liquor. The strong alcohol burns every bit of my mouth and my throat all the way to my gut. It made me smell fire and cringe. He then turns to me. "And you, you little shit, need to stop acting like you don't need protection. You could also lay off on protecting Jack."

"Without me he woulda been dead, Geoff."

"Without us you would be not shot so shut up and heal." He commands. I muter profanities as I take a bigger drink of the alcohol. "I guess for the next few months... We uh, we could fucking help out, I don't know." I arched an eyebrow at him. "How good are you at computers?" Before I answer, Jack laughs lowly.

"Don't fucking get her started." I smile and nod. "You think Ryan's good with computers? She comes fucking close." I shrug and stand from the couch to find the cap to the bottle I had in my hands. I wasn't feeling Vodka tonight.

"I mean, it's easy to figure out a computer." I comment. "Why? what did you have in mind?" Geoff glances at Jack and it's almost as if they have a mental discussion about Geoff's question. Finally, Jack nods and puts away the whiskey.

"So while you are down for those few months, I suggest quitting your job."

"What? Why?"

"Because I'm going to hire you as our tech." I cross my arms and lean against the counter. "I'll pay you depending on what you can give me. Minimum payment will always be five grand. Deal?" I make a 'not bad' face and nod.

"Sit on my ass for a few and then get paid for it? Deal." I shake his hands with my good one and shrug. "Kind of a catch though, Bud. I don't have a computer." Jack chuckles and points at Geoff.

"She's also good at getting free stuff." He tells him. Geoff rolls his eyes and nods, agreeing to buy me whatever I need to do my job. Looks like I'm actually going to do this.

-

I grabbed my cell phone as my eyes scanned the computer. I called Geoff back quickly.

"Last location was at eighty and twelve."

"Anything else?" I nod and zoom in on the hacked traffic cameras.

"He's carrying protection."

"As in people? Weapons?" He questions, annoyed. "You're very vague."

"He's carrying both, you idiot." There's a pause on the other line and I click on the time, typing it into my log and searching other cams. "The way he's headed looked like to middle of main. He knows you're coming."

"Of course he does- when does he ever think someone might surprise him?"

"Call FakeHaus if you need back-up. They are free today." His chuckle rumbles through the phone.

"You're good, LP. Get some rest." I roll my eyes and close my laptop.

"I've been resting for four weeks now." I remind him. "I think I deserve to get out and stretch my legs."

"No." He says simply. "The deal was you rest for a few months and then you're free to do as you please." The phone clicks and I groan, locking the screen. This was so irritating. My shoulder was feeling fine. Sure it was weak, but the inside was completely healed. It was the nerves on the outside and the back that are needing healed fully. My phone vibrates and I look at it to see a message from Geoff.

Fucking be safe, kid.

I smiled at the text and nodded, getting up from my bed and tucking my laptop under the frame. I slide on my sandals and tuck my phone into my pocket along with the pistol I bought for my protection. I put that in my jacket pocket and walked outside before locking the door behind me. I feel the cold air against my face and I never thought I'd be so happy to feel such a chilling breeze. I walk down the steps and onto the sidewalk while smiling at the air tickling my neck with my own hair. I stroll down the walkway with caution even though I'm still relaxed. It wasn't like Geoff to let me do what I want during this so I better make this last. I see the boulevard is full of people and instead of feeling like I should be around them I take the quiet way to the beach. I step onto the cold and wet sand with the freezing air pushing me backwards and making me squint at it. My phone begins to ring in my pocket and I fish it out slowly.

"LP." I say, using my most common nickname.

"So they have you fishing for me?" A unrecognized voice comes through. My eyes squint harder and I turn from the crashing waves.

"Who is this?"

"Why, you've been studying me for a week, Love." I rolled my eyes at the nickname and slipped on my sandals. "Oh, but where are you going so soon?" I stopped in my tracks and immediately darted my eyes around my location. There were so many people it was hard to tell. "Don't bother looking for me. How much are they paying you? I could pay you double."

"I'm not doing it for money."

"Let me guess... Little sister gets caught up in big brother's life, meets a cute guy that's brother's friend, falls for friend-"

"Um, you're wrong at that part, Sunny Boy." The man hums and I can almost hear his smirk.

"No, I'm really not. Especially since said friend feels the same." What the fuck is he talking about? What "friend" was this man talking about? There's six of them and one is my brother, two are married, one has a girl... That leaves either Jeremy or Ryan. I was close with both of them, but I was sure Jeremy had a secret girlfriend. He was always quick to defend when they said he'd never get one. What about Ryan, though? "So, I suggest you work with me if you want to live- which if you're smart you do. Call your little buddies here so that I can meet them without being stalked. Okay?" Before I can give a snide comment I hear the phone drop the call. I run a hand through my hair with my heart beating fast. There was a code phrase we had to use if one of us were leading the other into a trap. I've never learned it personally, but I always heard it. I hope to god they will get it... I open my contacts and call up Geoff, but the man doesn't answer. Neither does Jack or Michael. Finally, when I call Ryan, I let out a shaky breath. His voice comes through the phone along with yelling.

"Kind of busy, Diane." I sniffle as tears run down my face.

"Ryan, I went for a walk and-"

"Hold on." I hear gun fire and then all the yelling stops. "Okay, what's up?"

"I went for a walk I'm. And dude, does this suck a hotdog." The phrase was ridiculous, but it was something that wouldn't set up suspicion.

"Where are you?" His voice was suddenly strict and to the point. "Because that phrase better be important." I smile lightly with tears in my eyes.

"Just go to the boulevard. I will work on finding my way to you." Ryan sighs and I hear a car door shut.

"Be safe. Don't talk to strangers." I nod and shove my phone into my pocket when it clicks. I begin to walk towards the boulevard when my phone rings again. I answer it and look around instantly.

"Good. So they are on their way to find you?" I nod, knowing he can see me. "When they get here, I want you to stand beside me so that you can watch me murder every single one."

"And why would I do that?"

"Because-" He cuts off and suddenly hands grab both of my arms and there are two men dressed for beach weather shoving and pulling me towards the docks. "I want to see how much anger you hold." The phone cuts and I groan, lashing out against the men.

"Stand still, Lady." One mutters. "Make a scene and you won't have to watch the murders." I knew exactly what he meant and whimpered as I stayed still and agreed to walk with them. They released my arms and I shove my hands in my pockets. I felt the gun in there but I knew better than to guess how good I was with a gun. We make it to the docks and I stop in front of the men as I see the crew darting between the people to us.

"Why the fuck are you here?" Geoff immediately asks the man. The guy shrugs and walks to me with his hands behind his back.

"I don't enjoy being stalked." He says with an annoyed tone. "I just want to do business like an adult but you all didn't trust me."

"Why should we?" I mutter. He looks at me and sighs, pulling my hair to pull my head back. People began to clear the docks at the sight of the crew.

"Because, pet... I am the only thing keeping you alive right now." I am pushed to the ground and I glare at the man. His men offer to help me up, but I push their hands away. I get up and brush myself off. "Now, tell me, are you guys prepared to have your throats slit?"

"Depends." Jeremy says, laughing. "Are you ready to get yours slashed?" As I looked at the men I don't think I've ever seen them so angry. Jack had white knuckles and I could see drips of blood coming from his palms. Geoff and Michael were standing with their arms crossed and eyes on me. Gavin and Jeremy were focused on the two that stood beside me. Ryan, though, was focused on the man. He had white knuckles also but his fingers were wrapped around a small pocket knife. The man chuckles at the question and looks at Ryan's knife.

"You think a man with a tiny knife can kill me?" His face turns angered and frowning between his brow. "Do you fucking know who I am?" He shouts. The two men pull out guns and I quickly react as to grabbing one and ducking while pointing his hand up and firing the weapon on the other man. As I did, that distracted the main boss to look towards me and struggle to grab his gun while I fired at the other man with my own handgun. Both corpses fall to the floor and I point my weapon at the man, panting.

"Maybe before you fucking act like you know me you should actually try to know me." The man smirks and claps his hands together.

"Congrats, Sweetheart." I feel a pain go through my leg and gasp, grabbing the injured area. I fall to the ground and clutch it, looking at the man with angered eyes. "You got yourself shot." I groan and see my gun out of reach from me. What's the point if I can't make it without getting noticed? I look at the crew and something snaps in their eyes. It was all something different and I had no time to discover each looks' change. All I saw was a quick movement down my Ryan. It was so fast I swear it was in fast forward. I watched as that small pocket knife lodged into the man's neck until the whole blade was in the jugular. His hand swiped harshly to the left and I watched as blood poured from the man's neck and he was nearly decapitated from the small blade. His head snapped backwards to reveal the bloody innards of his throat. I hold my leg with one hand and slowly reach up, holding my neck. The image burned my eyes and I could feel myself choking. It was as if it was my throat that was cut. The man's blood was splattered onto Ryan's black and blue jacket and I inspected it while he turned to me. The look in his eyes flickered and it was as if the flame returned to his eyes after the man took his last gulp for air. Jack and Jeremy run to me, helping me to my feet.

"Thanks." I whisper, lifting my bloody calf to avoid more pain. The bullet was thankfully still lodged into it so as Caleb had told me before it was going to be easier to get out. I looked up at Ryan and just stared at him. I couldn't really believe what I witnessed. I mean, they told me time and time again Ryan was a killer. That his actual self was way different from his second personality. How gentle and comforting he was with me was apparently the nicest he has ever been. Jack once told me he watched Ryan single-handedly murder thirteen men within two minutes; All done with six bullets and a knife. I hobbled past Ryan, scared to even look at him. I never saw Ryan so focused and into killing someone. The scary part wasn't that- I mean he was protecting people. The real trip was seeing the joy in his eyes as he did it.


	4. Four

Caleb stitched my leg after removing the bullet and I was feeling the soreness already. I sat in the house with my leg hoisted up onto the coffee table while the men all sat at the table, discussing bodyguards and protection for me when they can't just up and leave a job.

"My friend Dan can be of some help." Gavin suggests.

"Kat can help, too." I arched an eyebrow at Jeremy's words and spun to look at them.

"And is this the girl you've been hiding from us?" He glances at me and suddenly looks flustered.

"I uh- I wouldn't say uh-"

"Come on, boy, spit it out." Jack says, chuckling at the stammering man. I smirked and watched as Jeremy sighed in defeat.

"She's my wife." He admits. I struggle to stand from the couch before limping over to them.

"You have a fucking wife?" I ask, leaning on Jack's chair for support. "How the fuck?"

"I've had a girl since high school."

"How is she so hidden?" Geoff questions. "Griffon and I were together for less time and everyone knows her without trying." Jeremy shrugs and scratched his neck.

"Because I guess we're just good at hiding it? I mean, come on. You think I'd mention her? She's a top priority and anyone can take her. I can't have that happening." I furrow my brow and stand up while limping to the fridge to get a drink.

"Well why do you want to risk her identity to protect me?" I comment. He is quiet. "I'm sorry I don't want to risk you losing your protection over your wife for me. She's safe and sound, that's all that matters in this life." I grab milk and cocoa mix from the cabinet with a cup and spoon. As I make my chocolate milk, the only discussion at the table is Dan and how his job will work. "You know, I can take care of myself." I mutter.

"Clearly not." Michael states with a huff. I look at my injured leg and frown.

"Well that was unplanned."

"Life is unplanned, LP."

"Shut up." I growl, annoyed. "I don't need a bodyguard. If anything, you fools do." After putting everything back in their places and hobble over to the couch, trying not to spill my drink. I sit back on the sofa and turn on the video game system laying under the television. I sign into my account and open up Asteroids. As I shoot at the digital rocks I can hear them all talking. Well, all but Ryan. He hasn't really spoken since the boulevard. His mask was off and on the coffee table in front of me along with Michael's wallet and Jack's keys. I stare at the rubber object and see blood splattered all over it. It looked like dried paint and in my head I was preferring that it was. I grabbed the mask and held it gently between my fingertips. I ran my fingers over every crevice, cut, marking, and even blood stain. The eye holes were ragged from wear and tear and the teeth were colored differently from fading and stains. There was a cut that split part of the jawbone and another that went across the chin. There were holes in the mask that looked like burn marks, making me unsure on how they got there. It was an odd and old mask that made me feel indifferent about many things Ryan has done or said.

"Earth to Diane!" Jeremy shouts. I turn and look at the table, tossing the mask back to the table. "We asked if you wanted us to leave so you can get some rest." I stared at Ryan's maskless face and saw him avoiding my look while everyone else had their eyes trained on me.

"Uh, yeah. That's fine. I'm tired anyways." I lie. They stared at me and Jack hummed.

"I don't believe you." He says simply. "Not even an argument about resting for weeks? Or how tough you are?" I shrug and fake a yawn.

"Today's events made me tired. Can't I sleep for once?"

"What, you haven't been sleeping all this time?"

"I mean, I uh..." I shrug and wave them off. "Screw you guys. Get out and go home. I'm tired." My early dismissal was odd to them obviously, but they all stood from the table in the dining area and walked towards the door to leave. Michael grabs his wallet, Jack his keys, but Ryan strays from his mask for a moment. "Ryan." I call out when he is about to walk out the door after Jeremy. It was just him and me now, making the tension less in the room but still existent. I hold up the mask and he nods, coming to me. His hands wrap around the object and we both just stand there in an awkward silence, unsure of what to say in this moment.

"Diane." His voice was soft and if the room wasn't so quiet I wouldn't have heard him. I look up at him slowly. "Are you scared of me?" The question I couldn't answer even when I asked myself. I swallow quite thickly and he sighs at my silence. "I understand how you can have every right to be afraid of me. I'm a murderer." The pain and disappointment as he talked about himself physically hurt my chest.

"Ryan..." I trail. He looks at me with broken eyes and I honestly wanted to cry. This man- the one who stuck up for me every chance he had, killed to protect his friends, and killed to protect me- was sounding so afraid of himself I wasn't sure how to react. "I trust you." It was all I could say. I trusted him with my life. Whether it was to keep it going or end it, I trusted him. Fear was different. "I mean, you as a person do not scare me. It's what you did that scares me. Murder is murder and it's a scary thing. I've murdered people to protect you and the crew and I'll do it all the time if I need to. You were doing the same for me but that's the thing... It was for me. That's what scares me. How far would you go to protect me?" He's quiet and I sigh, sitting on the couch to rest my leg. He slowly takes a seat with me. In the silence I feel more relaxed somehow with our conversation. It was a lot to lift off my shoulders and it was great to discuss, sure, but it's the conversation itself that shouldn't be relaxing.

"I'd go farther to protect you and the guys." He admits quietly. I nod in understanding and rest my head on his shoulder, eyes feeling heavy.

"I'd go far for you guys, too." I smile small at the image of Ryan teaching me to shoot a sniper rifle before my day on the roof. "You've done so much for me, Ryan..." the silence kept my eyes from staying open and I began to lean more onto Ryan. He didn't seem too phased by it. I've done this once or twice and the first time he was so tense I felt bad. "Thank you." He lets out a large breath and his arms moves up, wrapping me in a side hug. I fall into his rib cage and wrap my arms around his waist.

"You're welcome, Diane." I stay in this somewhat comfortable position with him until my heavy eyelids finally shut for the night.

-

I wake up to the comfort of my bed. I know damn well I fell asleep clinging to Ryan last night so he must have moved me when I fell asleep. I move my leg slightly and wince at the sore pain surging through it.

"Fuck my life..." I mutter. I sit up and open my laptop to search up on the man we killed yesterday. As I searched more on him I got a name. Liam Sanders. I went into data records and typed in the name before identifying him in an old picture. He had a bummish look to him and I realized something immediately. This picture wasn't old. It was from a week ago. This man was indeed a bum. He had no residence listed and his age was highly off from the man we were tracking. I fumbled around for my cell and called Geoff. After three rings he answers.

"It's eight in the morning, LP. What the fuck?" I push past his unwelcoming greeting and get to the point.

"The man we killed wasn't the real culprit." There's a scratching noise on the other side of the phone and a heavy sigh.

"What do you mean not the real one?" I hold the phone between my shoulder and ear while screen shotting the pictures I found and the data files.

"I'm sending you information right now." I email the screenshots to Geoff and it takes about five minutes before the conversation continues.

"So what, we got a dead end again?" He questions. I bite my lip and shake my head.

"Not yet. I can try to track him again but this time, I'm gonna need the bullet Caleb dug out from my leg." The mentioning of my injury causes my leg to throb mentally in pain.

"Alright." Geoff says with a heavy sigh. "Let me wake the fuck up and uh... I'll call Caleb to meet you at the house." I nod and hang up the phone before closing my laptop and pulling out clothes from the dresser next to the wall. I tug on the outfit I chose and walk out the bedroom door with a strong limp. I sit on the couch and open one of the dressers attached to wooden coffee table. I pull out the microscope slides, tape, and the mini scope, placing them on the table and grabbing the plastic sheet to lay them on. I stand from the couch again and go to the kitchen to get paper towels and latex gloves from the sink area. I walk back to the table and hear a knock at the door.

"Yeah?" I shout.

"Bullet delivery." Caleb calls through the door. I nod and call him inside. "You're lucky I still have it." He says, shutting the door behind him. I see Trevor is with him. Great. The two best friends that won't shut up with jokes. I take the bullet in the bag and pull it out cautiously with my gloves on.

"What is this? Criminal minds forensics?" Trevor asks. I roll my eyes and shake my head.

"We killed an impostor he most likely hired." I tell them. "I'm seeing whose prints are on the bullet so I can get a lead." The two take seats on opposite sides of me and watch as I work. I put the bullet on the table and put tape around it. I pull the tape off carefully and grab a slide, sticking the now printed tape onto the plastic rectangle. I slip the slide under the microscope. Sure enough, there is a fine print of two fingers: index and thumb. That was what they used to load the gun. "Can either of you run prints?" I ask. Caleb shakes his head, but Trevor raises his hand. I hand him the slide and he carefully takes it. "Run this. Get back to me as soon as there are results." He nods and puts the slide into the bag the bullet was once in. I grab the bullet and inspect the ammo closely under the microscope. I zoom out of the view I had so I can read the bullet. I hadn't seen a bullet like this in any of the AH guns. I read the back and see that it's a fifty BAT which means it was a weak bullet. It was only meant to hurt me. Was this his attempt to anger me? Because it fucking worked. I examine further on and see a brand name. Ammoland. I hobble from the couch to my room and grab the laptop. I go back to the living room and sit next to Caleb once more. I quickly type in the brand but nothing comes up.

"What's up?" Caleb asks. Trevor left to go scan the prints while Caleb stayed behind.

"Ever heard of Ammoland?" He shakes his head and begins pulling out his cell.

"Nope. But I can ask the AH gun crew." I nod and continue my search. If this brand was a small company, we could easily track down the buyers of the ammunition. "Hey, Lindsay. Yeah, can you tell me if you or anyone else there has heard of Ammoland?" There's a long pause and finally a confused face. "Are you sure? I mean, it's a pretty nice bullet. Yeah, I can take it in soon if you want. Sure thing." He hangs up the phone and shakes his head while putting the device away. "No one on B-Team has heard of it. She told me to bring by the bullet later." I nod and hand him the ammo while I continued to google and search anything I could. Nothing was coming up and it was frustrating me.

"I'm gonna check the local shops." I say, standing and limping to my coat. Caleb gets to his feet quickly and stands in front of the door.

"You know the rules-"

"This fucker shot me, Caleb! I deserve to know." He sighs and throws his hands up.

"Fuck it. You know my number. If you need me or Trevor ring us." I nod and he walks out the door before me. I ring up a taxi and within minutes there's one in front of me. I step into the vehicle and give him my location. The ride is quiet and after a few blocks I am at the closest Ammunation. I pay the cab driver and go into the building with the limp I have. The shop was empty and this one didn't have a shooting range.

"How can I help ya?" The man questions. I go to the counter, panting from the pain and effort it took to walk up those steps and into this store.

"Do you carry the brand Ammoland?" The man furrows his brow and shakes his head.

"Never heard of it. Is it new?" I shrug and look at the cased weapons I leaned on with the shop runner.

"My friend recommended it. Said it was very scarce to find. Was hoping you guys would carry it." I lie quickly. "Thanks for the help, though."

"Well can I interest you in any handhelds?" I look back down at the weapons and see nightsticks, pistols, bombs, and knives. "Actually, you look like a heavy weapon kind of gal." I arch an eyebrow and he points to the wall behind him. Out of all those large guns and even a firework launcher, though, the thing that caught my eye wasn't a gun.

"How much for the machete?" The man looks as me, skeptical, but grabs the weapon and lays it on the counter. I grab the handle and immediately I feel right.

"Hundred even." I dig into my pocket and pull out my wallet, debit card slammed onto the glass quickly. The look on the man's face looked like he was scared to know why I wanted it. I'm gonna chop that fucker's head off.

-

I made it home safe and within ten minutes after I got back there was a knock on my door. I continue inspecting my new blade while shouting to the closed object.

"Yeah?"

"Finger prints are back." I hear Trevor's voice as the door opens. "I got the-" He pauses and watches me cautiously. I smile small at him and waggle the machete in the air.

"Like my new toy?"

"Where the fuck did you get that?" He asks, suddenly petrified. "You're so innocent! Do you even know how to use it?" I shake my head and put the weapon beside me on the couch.

"So the prints?" He clears his throat and nods quickly.

"Right. So the prints came back but it came back with two matches." I furrow my brow. "I know, it's nearly impossible, but these guys are literally one strand of DNA from each other."

"You mean twins?" Trevor nods and shows me the files he brought in hand. I open them and he continues to explain what he found.

"These two are completely different. One's a criminal in all ways and the other is innocent and has a nice house and family. He works in real-estate." I nod and flick through the pages of information.

"Well then it's obvious, right?" I say.

"Yep. The criminal shot you." I laugh lowly and shake my head.

"Nope." I pull out the "good" twin's file and point at the picture. "You really think that this guy is dumb when he hires people? It's gotta be the innocent looking one." I pat him on the shoulder while he lets it click in his head. "Good job though, TreyCo." I read over the file and notice something is off immediately. "Oh my god..." I whisper.

"What's up?"

"This is my old boss' work partner." I read over the location and age and everything I knew about him. My boss always told me to stay on this man's good side. Now I know why. "He came into the bar every now and then to discuss deals. After all, without him my boss wouldn't have gotten the bar..." I bite my lip and pull out my cell. I call up Jack and almost immediately he answers.

"You in one piece?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Look, I got a lead. Remember Aaron Newborne?" I ask, pushing to the point.

"Your boss?"

"I need to go see him." My stomach tightens when another idea pops into my head. "And send Ryan to get me. I'm gonna need his help." Before he can question anything I continue talking. "Hand the phone to Geoff, please." There's a shuffling noise and then Geoff's voice through the speaker.

"What do you got?"

"My old boss was partners with the guy who shot me. I'm gonna try and get him to talk..." I admit quietly. Geoff sighs over the device.

"Are you sure you can handle it? Ryan's on his way to get you. Do you expect him to torture him or protect you?" I nod and stare at the machete beside me.

"I expect him to watch and make sure nothing happens in my uh... Process." There's a pause before realization hits Geoff.

"Oh my god you're gonna torture him?" There's a call out from the crew and shuffling before Jack gets his phone back.

"Diane, what is he talking about?" I explain my plan to Jack and he sighs with annoyance. "I knew I shouldn't have brought you into this life... It changes people."

"It changed you." I comment, feeling like I should defend myself with an insult. He's quiet. "Look, Jack, I need to do something. Someone shot me for christ sake and I might have a chance at getting back at who it was." I glance at Trevor and smile small before talking to Jack again. "And you guys should really appreciate the skills B-Team has." I hang up the phone and stand from the couch, grabbing my machete. "Hey, you should head out. Ryan's coming to get me." Trevor nods and stands also.

"Uh yeah." He's quiet and looks at me carefully. "Thanks for the shout-out." I chuckle and nod. "Also, do you really think this is a good idea?" I bite my lip and think about his words.

"Have you ever seen something that pissed you off so much you wished you could change it?" He nods at my question and I put the machete in the sheath I bought for it. I hang the belt on my hip and limp towards the door. "That's my passion for this." He turns and follows me out of the door while I lock it behind me. Ryan is already outside and leaning against his car. The skull mask was firmly in place like usual and I don't think I have ever been happy to see the intimidating object. Trevor waves me off and I walk towards the car.


	5. Five

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Ryan asks, staring at the building in front of us. My ex-boss said the man worked here and this was our only lead. I grabbed tightly to the machete in my lap.

"Not really." I admit with a shaky breath. "I've never tortured anyone. I don't even know where to start." Ryan sighs and looks around before removing his mask.

"Llok, Diane, I'm not gonna lie to you. If you go down this path, there is no going back. You will have nightmares, memories, and scars from this. You can't expect life to just go on like normal after you do something so harsh. Do you really and truly want to do this? It's not too late to go back home." Ryan's words sunk in as I sat there and thought on them. I looked at my leg and stared at it for quite some time. Ryan waited patiently in the silence while I debated whether or not to do this. I looked at my machete and studied it's fine metal and everything about it. Would I be willing to stain it with blood for torture and not self-defense or protection? My leg throbbed as if to give me an answer and my brain suddenly turned annoyed. This is self-defense: he shot first. I unbuckle my seat belt and Ryan slowly puts back on his mask. We both step out of the car with the street lights being avoided carefully. Ryan stays close to me and suddenly slams me against the wall, holding me close to him. His eyes were piercing mine and his lips were so close to my own I could feel his breath on them. I'm about to question it when I hear voices.

"Oh, get a fuckin room." One mutters while they turn into the direction they came from. When they disappear Ryan leans up from me. My face is absolutely flustered no doubt and I felt a jolt in my body when he held me tight. Yeah, I'll admit, Ryan is attractive and I know he would protect me. Of course I would be wanting to get close to him like that. Especially when I can't admit it without Jack throwing a fit. Last time I told him liked someone... Well, they didn't exactly get along after that.

"Let's go." Ryan whispers to bring me back to Earth. I clear my throat while not even trying to hide the red in my cheeks. I follow Ryan towards the backside of the building and see two men coming around the corner. I pull Ryan's hand to yank him backwards with me and back around the side. I duck beside the black dumpster while Ryan had his back pressed on the wall behind me. "This view is nice..." I hear him say with a light laugh. I look over my shoulder and see that my ass is nearly on his chest. I swallow thickly and spin while slipping my hand under his mask and over his mouth. He laughs lightly against my palm and I hear the two men pass by with another two going in the direction they came from. When both sets of men were out of sight and sound I pulled Ryan to his feet and had him follow me to the steps leading to the roof. We both are sneaking our way up and watching out for men below and above when I hear him chuckle again. We make it to the empty roof and I turn to him.

"Do you like making me feel flustered or something?" I ask, annoyed. He shrugs and pulls his mask off so I can see his painted face.

"It's fun, actually." I roll my eyes and he winks. "Oh come on, you like it." I bite my tongue from replying positively and shake my head while walking towards the fire escape.

"Just shut your trap and let's get this door open." He nods and pulls his mask back on before coming to me and pulling out a crowbar from his duffel bag. I watch him jam the iron bar between the door and it's lock, pressing on it swiftly and pulling the door towards us. It opens with a small click and I grab it. I push myself inside while Ryan held open the door and watched out for guards. Now that we were inside, any noise or mistake made would come with high-end consequences. I look at Ryan and he eyes me cautiously before slipping ahead of me with a gun ready in his hands. Under the hilt I could see the reflection of light caused by a metal blade sticking from the end. I cautiously followed behind him with my machete ready. It was a big weapon, yeah, but it was efficient. I wanted it so I got it... There's a light at the bottom of the stairs and it causes Ryan to turn to me quietly.

"If you want to ever back out let me know, okay?" I sigh lightly and lift his mask to where I could see his eyes. I look straight into them.

"Don't worry about me, okay?" I whisper. "I'll be okay. Worry about yourself." I lean forward on the uneven height and kiss his cheek before pulling the mask back down. I'm sure his face paint was on my lips now but I didn't attempt to wipe the color off. He nods lightly and heads down the stairs once more. I follow until we make it to the door extruding the light. My heart was pounding and adrenaline was beginning to pump through my veins as a pair of guards made their way past us. Ryan pulled out a silencer from his bag and zipped the fabric closed before attaching the equipment to the barrel of his gun. I watched him lean out both sides of the door before firing at both men. I hear the bodies hit the floor before Ryan waves me out the door and is behind me, watching me carefully. My old boss said his office was on the top floor and it was closest to the right side of the building. I followed his instructions and there were four rooms on the farthest right of the building. After six more men being killed and a reload on Ryan's pistol, we make it to the side of the building we needed to be on. Why were there so many guards for a real-estate agent building? I press my back against the wall with Ryan and take a deep breath to focus. My stomach was rocking with my emotions towards this mission and it was getting to the point of vomiting from nerves here soon. Ryan nudged my shoulder and I gave him a reassuring look to let him know I wasn't going to back down. I had to go through with this. Ryan nods once and firmly before leaning his chest over my own to peek down the hallway. He pulls back and I can tell he's hatching a plan in his head. He finally decides on one and sneaks around the dark corner towards a potted plant. I watch him through the hallway's corner mirror like they had in schools. I watch him carefully move against walls and rolling quietly on the carpet. Finally, he makes it to the last door and goes behind one man, stabbing him in the back of the neck with the blade on the end of his hilt while the other man sneezed in our favor.

"Gesundheit." Ryan says, making the man spin and be stabbed in the temple. The body seizes for a moment before Ryan carefully lowers him to the ground like he did with the first. I trot down the hallway quietly when Ryan waves me towards him. I grip so tightly to my machete I'm sure my knuckles were white and the handle's design was imprinted into my inner hand. I grab the door knob and quietly turn it, making sure it was unlocked first. I smiled at my thinking ahead and swing the door open to where it smacks against the wall. Ryan raises his gun to the man who sits there, startled for a moment from the intrusion. When he saw my face, though, he smirked with a low laugh.

"He said you were coming." He tells me. How? How did his boss know?

"Well then I guess I should have knocked, huh?" I asked with venom in my words. I took a seat in the office chair and kicked my leg up on the desk. "I just wanted to know who gave you the orders to help me sport around this beautiful bastard." I gesture towards my bandaged leg. "Thanks for the style advice by the way. Helps a lot with dates and getting laid." I always heard stories of how cocky the men were when they were into getting information. It would piss off the persecutor. I decided after a cocky sentence or two to go down the other road. Innocent plays. "So I was thinking maybe we could help each other out?" I ask, voice changing immediately. "I'm not good with the whole uh..." I look at Ryan and see him still aiming at the man in the seat before me. "Boy, come sit down and show some manners." Ryan eyes me with such confusion but doesn't question it. He slowly lowers his gun and comes tot he seat beside mine. The man before us looks utterly confused as to what I was doing. "I didn't come here to fight you or hurt you..." I look at the name plate that sat on his desk. "Nate."

"Then why are you here wielding that nice little machete and him with a gun?"

"Because even though I didn't come here to hurt you, your men were a different story..." I trail. "Anyways, Nate, I was thinking of maybe processing a deal?" The man glances at me and bites the inside of his cheek before leaning back in his chair.

"Go on."

"Okay, so I was thinking that maybe we could have a trade more than a deal... I could trade you information and you could give me something. Yeah?" Nate is quiet before smirking.

"And what information could you give me?" He questions. I shrug and rest my head on my hands on the desk.

"Me, my brother... The crew." Ryan's head snaps to look at me and Nate chuckles.

"Your body guard doesn't seem too happy with your offer since he's one of them." I laugh lightly and nod.

"Yeah, I know. It's because he thought I was bringing him here to torture you. I had to play the 'help me' card for this one." My heart was pounding and I didn't dare to look at Ryan since I could feel my body heating up at his intense glare.

"Okay, then, call off your dog and I'll play the cards." I force myself to look at Ryan and then to his gun. Ryan huffs and shakes his head, placing the gun on the desk. Nate eyes the weapon and he laughs lightly. "Man you must have some effect on the crew for Vagabond to be your pet. Alright, you first." I shake my head and cross my arms.

"Oh no... I called off my dog. I think you owe me." I tell him. He stares at me as if I was bluffing and would crack but when he saw I was serious, he cracked for himself.

"Alright..." He sits up in his chair. "Newborne; Told me you were coming. Said that you were packing and that you had a determined look. So, I called the boss. He told me to wait for you and kill you." I arched an eyebrow and my throat locked. I was sitting in a death trap and I brought Ryan to it. "He didn't tell me you'd be looking for a deal." I smirk and shrug.

"Unpredictable I may be..."

"Your turn." I huffed and quickly moved for the gun Ryan left on the desk, shooting Nate in his shoulder.

"Like I said, unpredictable." I stood from my chair and walked over to Nate as he clutched his shoulder. "Now, tell me... Who is your boss?"

"Bitch." I sucked in air and tsked my tongue while shaking my head slightly.

"You see-" I swung the gun and sliced his cheek open from lip to cheekbone before holding the gun steady again. "-I don't like being called that. I mean, I'm secretly a nerd, a computer genius... Maybe even a bit depressed. Bitch? Nah. I don't have that in my resume." I take my bad leg and without a second thought slam my boot into his shoulder. His chair spins when he falls from it and onto the black and grey carpeting. "Now I'll ask again." I crouch and step on his right hand's fingers. "What's his name?"

"Fuck you." I groan and stand, putting more weight on his fingers.

"Come on, Nate, buddy, we were having such a good time!" My blood was pumping and I never felt so alive until I hurt this man just like he hurt me. "One more time. I promise. That's all I'm gonna ask. Then I'll be on my way." I inspect the weapon in my hand while sitting on top of the desk's siding. "Boss?" The man looked like he might curse at me again or like he might spit blood on my face, but he doesn't.

"Ask Gretchen at Binco. She knows more about him than I do. I just know he pays me good." I nod and stand from the desk while patting him atop the bald head. He was breathing heavily as I walked around the desk to the stunned Ryan sitting in his chair still.

"All yours." I whisper.

"Wait- you said you'd leave!" Nate called angrily with a whine. I nod and stand in the open doorway.

"Yeah, I am. I didn't say he would." I place the gun on Ryan's lap and walk out the door, waiting for him to decide on what to do. After a moment, I hear Nate's pleading and then silence again. Ryan steps out of the room and I follow him to the fire escape we once entered from. Out to the roof, down the stairs and to the car, just like we did to get here. The only difference was that Ryan didn't laugh at me, mention my ass, or anything along the lines. When we get into the car I turn to him. "Are you okay?" His eyes were focused on the road in front of us.

"I just didn't expect you to do so well." He admits with a long breath. I swallow hard and look at my lap.

"I learned it from you guys." I whisper.

"Another reason I was scared of you doing this." He starts the car and silently drives onto the road.

-

It's been two days since we killed Nate. I decided to throw off the boss a bit by waiting a few days in between interrogations or maybe even throwing him off later on if he catches on. There's a knock on my door and I stand, wrapping my blanket tighter around my shoulders. I open the door to the unexpected visitor and see Ryan without his mask. It was clung tightly in his hands and he looked completely distressed. We haven't spoken to each other fully since Nate.

"Ryan-"

"Jack sent me." He pushes his way into the house while I shut the door behind him. "He wanted to make sure you weren't going after Gretchen alone yet." I nod my head in understanding of my brother's concern. He's been out of my way since Geoff hired me and I was set on getting my revenge. I got it, but not fully. Nate was paid to shoot me. Gretchen was my only connection to the boss right now. I had to get the information on him.

"So what, he wants you to go with me?" Ryan shrugs at my question and I sigh. "What's up? Is it what happened with Nate that you're avoiding me?" He's quiet for a moment.

"It is, actually." He says honestly. "I told you, Diane, I am not gonna lie to you. It made me sad to see you've not even been here a year and you're already a pro at getting information from a weak target." He runs a hand through his hair, removing the band that pulled his shoulder length hair together. "The saddest part is that you learned from us." He takes a seat on the couch, throwing his mask and hairband to the coffee table. I take a seat beside him and tuck myself into the fluffy white comforter I wrapped myself in.

"Ryan, I'm sorry..." I whisper. "I didn't think it was a bad thing. I can help you guys!" I say with a gentle tone. "Isn't that a good thing?" He rests a hand over his mouth and his blue eyes hit my green ones. I feel frozen for a moment until he sighs and looks away.

"Yeah, I guess." I inspect his face and see his face paint has smeared and it uneven. It honestly bugged the shit out of me.

"Okay, your paint is fucked. Can I redo it?" He arches an eyebrow at me and laughs lowly.

"Do you have the right colors?"

"Well, not red, but I'm sure you tools left black and white since I saw some yesterday when I cleaned." I stand from the couch and go towards the room I saw the paint in. I scramble around the room and dressers until finally find both colors of paint. Ryan had already washed off his old paint when I came back and I could see his bare face clearly. "I'm gonna try a new design, alright?"

"Awe but I like the skull look." I smile and giggle at his whining.

"Don't worry, it's gonna be cool." I dip my finger into the white paint and outline it thickly to where the shape of a game-like skull was on his face. I avoided the cheekbones and circled the chin. It was a jagged edge and didn't go to his hairline and only halfway on his forehead. I then plastered on white to fill in the rest of the area inside the outline. I made sure the paint was dry before reaching into the coffee table drawer and rummaging through my basket of art supplies before finding the rightsize paint brush. I dip it into the black and outline the white thinly with a black line. I then make holes around his eyes before filling them in carefully. I go to his lips and dip the brush again as I paint thin lines on the white to indicate teeth. I had to place my hand on his cheek to balance me hand. His skin was warm after a few seconds of my hand being there and I swore that I saw red in his cheeks. Was Ryan blushing? If so it was fucking cute as shit and he wouldn't say he was. I added jagged lines to look like cracks in his skull face. I was finally satisfied with the look and smiled, closing the paints.

"There." I say, standing and putting the paints on the counter. Ryan stands and goes to the hallway's mirror. He makes an approving face and nods, coming to me.

"Looks great." I smile at him and nod.

"I know." He chuckles lowly and we stand there, watching each other in silence. I could see more of his skin now and with the intimidating mask always on it was a treat to even see the face paint. I stared at his piercing blue eyes and could see the green lines that encircled the bright blue. His jawline was firm and his lips were on mine. Wait. What? I focused my attention and suddenly realized that his lips were indeed on mine. His hand was also pressing on the small of my back. My eyes closed and I relaxed into the moment I didn't picture happening until now. I could taste the new paint on his lips but I honestly couldn't care less. I was kissing Ryan and I was approving of this. I pulled him closer to me and felt his other arm go behind my shoulders, holding me tight against him. It was almost as if he didn't want to let me go on the in-case I would book it from his touch. I wouldn't, though, because it felt so nice. His lips parted from mine and I opened my eyes with such a dazed feeling I wasn't sure if that actually happened. From the smirk on Ryan's now paint free lips and laugh he gave at my most likely paint covered ones, it did. I reached up and wiped at my mouth. Sure enough there was a black and white mixed smear that stuck to my hand.

"Well then." I say, blush covering my entire face by now. "That was an experience." Ryan released me and cleared his throat while awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck.

"Yeah, uh, sorry..." He backed up from me and I shook my head with a small smile.

"No no, don't be." I say softly. "It was nice." We stare at each other for quite some time once more before the door opens and I turn to see Jack and the rest of the crew. My face heats up and I snarl up my nose. "Don't you guys have your own houses to go to?" Geoff shrugs while the others take a seat wherever they were comfortable.

"Yeah, but yours is more fun." He says with a smirk. I roll my eyes and Jeremy points at my face.

"You uh... You got a little-" He stops himself when he looks at Ryan and me. He smiles large and shake his head. "I don't think that's powdered donuts on you lips." He whispers. My eyes widen and I wipe off the paint that was left on my mouth quickly. I glance at Ryan while Jeremy walks away snickering.


	6. Six

I laugh lightly as Ryan's hands trail up my sides and tickles me gently. He smirks and presses his lips to my forehead before standing from the couch we shared together.

"Come on, we gotta get up. The guys will be here soon." I nod in agreement and fix my shirt when I sit up. Ryan and I have been secretly seeing each other for three days now, and let me tell you, those three days have been great. Jack has been making sure if I do go after Gretchen that Ryan is with me. Thank god for that. I stood from the couch and went to the kitchen, opening the fridge to get a snack. "So when are we going after her anyways?" Ryan asks as I pull out some grapes and pop one into my mouth.

"I was thinking tomorrow. These three days can't last forever. Jack's gonna call you back if we don't do anything." I point out. Ryan nods and leans over to counter with a small smirk.

"Who's gonna stop us from enjoying it, though?" I roll my eyes and push him off the counter with a small smile of embarrassment.

"Shut up..."

"No but really, we do need to figure out a plan for if they ask." I nod and look at the clock. We had about five minutes before the usual show-up time for the crew. I hummed and taped my chin.

"What if we went to Binco and instead of interrogation, we decided to give in and work for the boss?" Ryan furrows his brow while narrowing his eyes at me. "I'm saying a trick. I mean, you guys always go in with guns blazing. Why not switch up and do what we do best." I arch an eyebrow when he's quiet.

"You're good at reverse psychology?" He asks with a small laugh. I gasp in a fake hurt way and slap his hand.

"Just ask Jack how I got what I wanted when we lived with Mom and Dad. Even Jack sometimes." He chuckles and shrugs.

"Alright... So what do you think we should start with?"

"Maybe we can go in and ask if the boss is hiring. If she claims we are from Fake AH, well I can easily say I had a falling out with my brother and you are following your name: Vagabond." He nods and straightens up on the stool he sat on. The door opens and the crew strolls in like they usually do.

"Hey fuckers." Michael greets. I nod to him and Ryan spins around on the stool while resting his arms on the counter behind him for support.

"What was the take?"

"Forty-five." Geoff answers, throwing a bag on the floor beside Ryan's feet. "Six grand each with some left over for the safe house jar." I liked that they had been putting off the extra money for another safe house. It was nice to know they actually were trying to get out of my house now. I mean, sure they were always welcome, but they had houses and never went to them. They always chose mine.

"How's the Gretchen thing going?" Jack asks. I shrug and rub my hands together.

"It's going."

"Think you'll do it tomorrow?" Jeremy asks, smirking. He's the only one that knew about Ryan and I since the kiss. I rolled my eyes at him and nod.

"Yes, Lil J, I plan to." He nods and sits on the couch with Michael, grabbing a controller.

"Good because we need Ryan on Thursday for a bank hit." Geoff fills in. I stop myself from frowning and nod.

"Yeah, he'll be free after tomorrow then." I glance at Ryan and see him watching the television screen. Why did I want to be around him so much? I guess because it's at moments like these that I can't be around him like I can when we're alone. Plus, we just started this; It's the honeymoon phase. The men all sit around for what feels like hours before they all one by one left the house. Ryan had left with the rest of the crew but he found it would be nice to call instead of text tonight. I agreed to it as in seeing it was no harm done.

"So tomorrow is a for sure, right?" He asks. "Because the guys come first, you know." I nod my head and smile small.

"They always have and it's okay." I reply.

"Good." There's a small silence. "You know, since Thursday is the big hit I was thinking Friday we could go somewhere." I arched an eyebrow and crossed one arm through the elbow of the one holding the phone.

"James Ryan Haywood, are you asking me on a date?" I ask, smiling small. He chuckles and I can imagine him shrugging.

"I mean you can call it that I guess. I was thinking a celebratory dinner." I laugh lightly and nod.

"Okay, yeah. That sounds nice, actually."

"Then we can discuss this tomorrow." We say our goodnight to each other before the phone call ends. I lay flat into the bed with the lights off and look out the window to the moon that shone bright outside. I was happy with who I was around. The only problem was with what we were in.

-

"What about casual?" Ryan asks as we stand near the front doors of Binco. I furrow my brow.

"What?" I turn to him and see him holding up a button up that looked much like Gavin's. I roll my eyes and shake my head. "You're dumb. Come on, that's not why we're here." He shrugs and hangs the shirt back on the rack. We both walk up to the counter and immediately the girl at the register looks alarmed. "Gretchen?"

"Diane Pattillo and Vagabond." She says with an annoyed teenager voice. That's exactly what she was... How the hell was she that close to the boss?

"Hey so is your boss hiring?"

"Sorry, we aren't accepting applications right now." She says, tapping her fingernail on the counter top. I shake my head.

"I don't mean here." She arches an eyebrow before realizing what I meant.

"Oh. You mean Lewis..." She says with disgust. "Yeah, he's hiring. Why? You think he'd actually hire you two?" I shrug and nod.

"I think he will if he knows we are against the Fake AH Crew right now." She eyes me as if to catch my bluff but I knew how to hide a lie. She glances at Ryan and eyes him more.

"And him?"

"Look, he's just doing what his name says. He's a Vagabond. If he works for Lewis then he's gonna probably leave once he gets bored. I had a falling out with my brother. I just followed him. I go with him if he leaves." Gretchen sighs and shrugs with her crossed arms falling to her hips. She pulls out her cell and dials up a contact. She waits for the precipitant to answer the call.

"Hey, daddy. You have two people looking for a job." Daddy? The boss is her dad? "Vagabond and Diane Pattillo. Yeah, I know. I did. I did. Yes, dad. Yes! Oh my god why don't you trust me? I did the stupid test!" Test? She didn't do a test... "They're clean." She hangs up the phone and reaches under the desk, handing us a key when she comes back to eye level. "He said to let you in. Go around the corner and there's a locked green door. Go ahead, he's waiting." I nod and take the key after thanking her. Ryan and I do as told and follow the instructions. I unlock the door and Ryan and I slip in before anyone tries to follow us in. I lock the door again and shove the key in my pocket.

"So are we going for more formal?" I am about to question Ryan's words until I realize what he was asking.

"Ryan, really? Now?"

"I mean why not?"

"Because we are going to the boss right now!" I argue quietly.

"Well-"

"Hello, Vagabond, Diane." A voice says. Ryan and I snap our attention to the stairs in front of us where a tall figure stood with a shaded face. I squinted at the figure but I couldn't tell who it was. The man walks forwards down to us and we wait patiently for him to reach us. I extend my hand and the man doesn't hesitate to take it. "I'm Lewis. That's all you need to know." I nod and bow my head.

"Diane. Vagabond." Lewis turns to Ryan and sticks out his hand to him. When Ryan hesitates to shake the man's hand the look in his eyes flicker.

"Look, uh... Vagabond isn't one to trust someone who shoots a friend." I say, pointing to my leg. Lewis sighs and nods.

"Ah... That. Well, I apologize and if you need anything paid medically due to it I am willing to pay. After all, you are interested in working with me, no?" I nod with a shrug.

"We were looking into it, yes." I say causally. "I mean, I'm sure it looks skeptical to have two runaways from the gang trying to track and kill you are siding with you, but what's better than getting two people who are against them and know more about them than you?" Lewis smirks and points at me.

"You're right. I mean, this feels like a big trap and like you're here to get revenge for you getting shot, but I'll play." I smile and nod.

"Well, you know, at first it was. Then two days ago we left for reasons we don't feel like giving you quite yet." Lewis puts up his hands for me to stop.

"No need. You were honest. Thank you. Now, shall I lead you upstairs?" I nod and Ryan follows behind me as we are lead up the staircase. "You see, I need people like you two here. Most of the workers I have have low profiles and exact opposites. They are starting to catch on- much like you, Diane. Clever you are." I shrug and huff.

"Hence why I found Nate." I comment.

"Yes, that was actually quite nice that someone cracked it. I was getting bored." I nodded and looked around the large room we were lead to. There were people in suits and ties working on computers that were much better than the system I used. "So I know you're good at computers. What about Vagabond?"

"I am usually a bodyguard for Diane." He says quickly. Lewis raises an eyebrow at him as Ryan stares straight at him.

"Really?" Ryan nods and Lewis looks at me. I nod also and he hums. "How would you be for me?"

"I would be a bodyguard." He states firmly. Lewis chuckles and shrugs.

"Very well. Then right now you will work your way up to my bodyguard. For now you will stay with Diane to build in both of your levels." He leads us to a side room, opening the door and allowing us in before he shuts it. "I will expect you two to be on best behavior and not expect me to be stupid. I know better than to trust immediately." I nod and cross my arms.

"Who's to say we trust immediately?" Lewis smirks and shrugs.

"I already like you, Pattillo." Lewis walks out the door and leaves Ryan and I in the room alone. It was obvious that the room was bugged so Ryan and I knew better than to discuss our affairs with our real reason to be here. Instead we used the crew as our reasoning.

"So should we go ahead and bring up whatever info we can on the crew and send it in?" He questions. I shrug and cross my arms while inspecting the nicely furnished room.

"Not yet. We need to figure out if the crew has suspicions." I pull out my cell and call Geoff.

"Where the hell are you?" He shouts. I furrow my eyebrows and realize he was probably trying to play along without me asking.

"Out with Vagabond. Why's it matter to you?"

"You stole our good worker and then just up and leave after one argument with your brother?"

"Whatever, Ramsey, you aren't my dad!" Geoff sighs and clears his throat.

"So are you safe at least?"

"Yeah both of us are."

"Good. Will you be coming back?" I shrug and glance at the clock on the wall.

"I have an point meet at 2. Sorry, no can do."

"Alright, we'll see you then, Kid." With that he hangs up the phone. I rolls my eyes and fake my anger when shoving the phone back in my pocket.

"Your old boss is an asshole." Ryan laughs lowly and nods. He walks around the walls of the room, inspecting the art and different furniture. I notice him following a line that was thin and pressed against the wall flat before it was painted. It was obvious it was to the camera that was in the corner of the room. I watched him cut it with a knife he miraculously had gotten from his pocket without notice. We knew it was probably bugged with mics and wires, but we kept out calm as Ryan stepped away from the thin line. Almost too quickly, a man steps into our room, inspects the wire, doesn't see the cut, and looks at us.

"Don't touch that wire." He commands. I look at Ryan and shake my head.

"We didn't in the first place." I lie. He sighs and repeats his command before walking from the door again. Wow. His men were stupid.


	7. Seven

Ryan and I had been in this building for an hour, writing down and saving fake information on the crew that was obviously not found out yet. Lewis seemed satisfied with our work so we played it safe the entire time.

"Good job today, you two. I expect you back here at ten tomorrow morning." Lewis says.

"Vagabond has better things to do but I'll be here." I tell him remembering the bank job. Lewis shrugs and nods.

"Very well then. I will see you here tomorrow, Miss Pattillo." I nod my head and Ryan follows me from the building. When we are a safe distance from the building and back to the car that was still in front of Binco Ryan speaks.

"You didn't make one move to hurt him today." He says as he buckles up. "Why?" I shrug and buckle myself.

"Because the crew could use any information we get on him before we make a move." I explain. "I know, trust me, I wanted to cut his head off as soon as I saw him, but I played the safe route. We need to plan this better. He's smarter than he looks." Ryan drives off towards the house as my cell phone rings. It's from an unknown number. I answer it anyways and keep myself weary of who it might be. "D."

"Hello, this is Lewis. I stole your number from when you made a call to the crew."

"Wow, uh, privacy?"

"Well you're my newest employee. I gotta keep tabs."

"By stealing my number?" I ask with a huff. The man chuckles lowly while Ryan glances at me. I mouth Lewis' name and he nods once, cautious of what I say now.

"Listen, Diane, I am curious of one thing I didn't want Mr. Vagabond to hear of our discussion." My ears perk up and I listen closely. "I want to know why out of all people in Los Santos who hate your brother's crew you came to me. I mean, I had you shot and held as a tool to get them to the pier. Mr. Vagabond even slit the man's throat and he was just a place filler. So why me?" I knew he was expecting an excuse and that's what would throw off the whole plan. I shrugged and just spoke naturally.

"Like I said, this was a plan to get revenge on you. Then when we had the falling out I was just annoyed with everyone. The crew would never expect us to go running to the person we thought we killed or for me to go after the person I wanted dead." There's a silence and then a low hum on his line.

"I suppose that is a good answer." Before anymore could be said the line dies. What the fuck? I look at Ryan and he eyes me as if I was going to snap or break my phone. Really, I was just confused. Why didn't he want Ryan to hear our discussion? We pull up in front of my house and I see Jeremy's car there. I furrow my brow and step out with Ryan. Jeremy was almost never the only one here. I walk up the steps and pull the door open. Jeremy sat at the counter on a stool, drinking one of the strongest whiskeys in the liquor cabinet.

"Jeremy?" I ask, going to him and seeing the once full bottle almost one-third gone now. I take the bottle away and put on the cap. "Why are you drinking so much?" He puts his head in his hands and shakes it, slapping his cheeks. He plays with the cup in his hands. His hat and shades sat to the side of him and his hair was a mess from most likely running his hands through it.

"I uh..." His words were high-pitched and he blinked rapidly to focus. "I need to."

"You need to drink?" Ryan asks while taking a seat beside Jeremy. I grab the cup he used and rinsed it before filling it with water and handing it back to him. "Why?"

"Because Kat almost got found out today and it would have been my fault." I take the other seat beside him and rub his back while Ryan just listens in carefully. "She doesn't deserve to be hidden. She needs to be shown to the fuckin' world she's such a great person. I just-" He drinks some of his water and shakes his head. "I feel like us being married trapped her into my life and I don't want her to be stuck in it."

"Jeremy, alright, stop." Ryan says, seeming a bit upset by Jeremy's words. "Kat obviously doesn't care what life you have if she is still with you. You guys could have gotten a divorce and she would still be a normal person who was never found out." Jeremy groans and slams his hand on the counter.

"No, you don't get it!" He stands and looks at us with glossed over eyes. "She isn't normal! She isn't at all and that's why I'm scared for her. She is doing fine by herself. She doesn't need me so why the fuck does she still want me?" I furrow my brow and he sighs when Ryan and I both look confused. "She's Abbadon."

"You mean like _Abbadon_ Abbadon?" I ask. "As in the top dog of singular criminals?" He nods and I swallow thickly. "You do know your wife is a badass right?"

"Alright, Diane, not helping." Ryan mutters. I clear my throat and nod. "Right, so what are you trying to say? You almost said her identity?"

"She trusts me with her life and I almost gave it up. Just from anger I had. I can't do that... Why does she still want to be near me or with me at that point?"

"Did you say it?"

"Well, no."

"Then shut up and see that she loves you and trusts you with all her heart just like I'm sure you do her, too." I look over at Ryan and see the seriousness on his unmasked face. "You didn't say it and you still haven't. Only to us and that's because you trust us and I'm sure she doesn't trust us, but hell, I'd love to meet Abbadon." Jeremy stares at Ryan and I shake my head.

"Alright, I guess he's out of inspiring quotes... Listen, Jeremy, Ryan is right. She loves you. She also trusts you. So stop seeing the bad in this great relationship and see that she hasn't left you for a god damn reason." He's quiet for a moment but nods after a while.

"Thanks guys... I'm gonna call a cab. I'll come back for my car tomorrow before the bank hit." I nod and he waves us off. Ryan and I sit in silence and I sigh.

"I'm gonna call it a night."

"So are we not going to discuss the date?" I roll my eyes and he smirks, shrugging. "I guess not." He stands and leans down, kissing my cheek. "I'll leave you be. So I guess we won't see each other tomorrow until after your 'work' session?" I nod and he sighs with a small groan. "Alright, I'll be sure to stop by then. Night, LP."

"Night, Vagabond." He smirks and walks out the door to leave me alone in my house.

-

I went to 'work' and sat at my desk for an hour until I got a call from Lewis on the office phone.

"Hey, can I see you in my office?" I shrug and nod.

"Yeah I'll be right up." I hang up the phone and mentally think of what could happen. When I get there I need to study my surroundings for weapons. He could try to execute me without Ryan here. I follow the man who was sent to get me towards a larger room that reminded me of a nicer office than ours. Lewis sat in the middle at a desk and he waved off his men that all stood in the room. Well using bodyguards wasn't something that was going to happen; Scratch that off the list. "What's up?" He leans back in his chair with a smug smile. I wanted to slap it off his stupid face.

"I just wanted to get to know my new employee." I arch an eyebrow and cross my arms.

"Why would you want to do that?" Lewis laughs lightly.

"Because like I said, Diane, you intrigue me. You have an interesting style. I did my research on you, Miss Pattillo. Never killed a man until you came to Los Santos. You tortured my man and broke him within two minutes with an innocent trick. You worked at the bar with Mr. Newborne and yet you always were able to push men off of you. Have you ever had a steady relationship, Diane?" I huff and cross my legs.

"That has nothing to do with my work."

"Oh you see, but it does." Lewis stands and I watch him come around the desk to sit in front of me on the wooden furniture. "See, you don't need to work here. Not if you let me treat you well."

"No thank you." I say quickly.

"Oh come on. Imagine how upset your brother will be. Your crew... They will try to kill me, but I'll have you to stop them. You could be treated well by the most powerful man in the city." I was getting physically sick now. Was he trying to make me his girl or some sick shit?

"I'm gonna have to decline once more, Lewis." The man tsks his tongue and pulls out a long and shinning revolver from his coat.

"Well, that's just too bad..." The gun lands heavily on my chest and he clicks back the hammer. I swallow hard with my heart beating in my ears. "If you would have said yes you could have been happily rich and have anything you wanted. Now I know you're not worth my time. I stay quiet but curve my torso to the left as I kick out my foot. I hit his elbow and the gun shivers out of his hand. He grabs his elbow and I kick out again, knocking him to the ground. My heart was pounding and tears were in my eyes as the gun is kicked around and I stand from the chair to grab it. Lewis grabs my ankle and pulls it to slam me to the floor with him. "You bitch." He mutters, crawling over me and flipping me over to my back. He holds my hands down with his and stares at me with darkened eyes. "I knew you weren't here for the right reasons." I spit in his face and he chuckles, wiping the saliva on his jacket sleeve. His hand loosens and I take that chance to swing my hand onto his face as hard as my body could force into my fist. He stumbles and rolls off me, blinking rapidly. I crawl up and finally reach the gun but am dragged backwards to where it's just out of reach. I grunt and whine as I try to reach for the weapon. Lewis puts his hand on my ass, squeezing it hard and I kick down, scraping his fingers between my leg and the carpet. He hisses at the pain and I finally leap a bit to reach the gun. I turn my waist and aim at Lewis, who just smirks. "You won't-" I pant heavily and just stare at the smoke coming off the barrel of the gun. His men will come running in at any moment. I grab the gun and stand from the dead corpse that was now bleeding all over the grey carpet. I go to one of the long windows and open it, looking down. If I fell I was done for. If I stayed, I was done for. Fuck it. I got onto the side of the building and immediately started to panic. I couldn't do this. I'm not a high life criminal. I'm a little bitch. I can't do it. I heard sirens down the road and could see the bank the crew was robbing. They were just leaving the bank, firing and trying to protect each other. I heard the door being knocked on in the office and knew I had to move. I began to shimmy down the wall and avoid looking down. There was a fire escape a little ways down. I could make it if I hurry. At this point, though, I was going to get shot. I tried to hurry when I heard the door break open in the office. There was yelling of distress following it and I finally got close enough to jump down onto the escape. I land on my ass but recover quickly due to the fear running through my veins. I pant as I make my way down. I am shaking badly and crying by the time I make it to the sidewalk. I quickly call for a cab passing by and to my luck I get it. I slide in and give the address to my house, crying in the back seat while the driver played music to not ask questions about what I was crying about. The safe house comes into view and I shiver with glee at the sight. I hand the driver money and rush inside. I slam the door closed and curl up on the floor immediately in front of it. I cry into my knees and fall to the side, holding my legs and rocking slightly. I don't know how long I just stay there curled into a ball, but I hear a knocking on my door.

"Diane?" I hear Ryan's voice as he opens the door. He doesn't see me when he walks in. He just shuts the door and begins to look around. I sniffle and he spins, seeing me on the floor an utter mess. "Oh my god, Diane, what happened?" He inspects my jeans when he sees the blood from Lewis' face on the ass end and partly on my sweater.

"Lewis... I shot him..." I shake my head and release my legs, holding my head and crying out. "He tried to-"

"Woah, okay, come here." I feel Ryan's arms sweep under my body and up in the air to be carried. I cry into his jacket and chest, the cold zipper cooling my hot cheeks. "Just calm down and know you're safe right now, D." I nod and take deep breaths, telling myself that I was safe repeatedly. I hugged tightly to Ryan's jacket and when I released it the pleather was crumpled up with many wrinkles. I apologized with a small laugh and sit up to be more comfortable. His hand rests under my thigh but above my knee. His other rests on my lower back. "Now, can you tell me what happened?" I nod and take a deep and shaking breath. My eyes felt raw from crying so much.

"He called me into the office and I immediately thought that without you there he would execute me. So I tried to be prepared. Then he started talking about treating me right and saying it would piss off Jack and the crew if I was dating the man they despised." I felt Ryan's hands tighten for a moment before relaxing again. "Then when I denied the first time he said I could have anything I ever wanted. I denied again and-" I bite my tongue from crying again. I reminded myself it was okay here. "He put a gun to my chest. I was so fucking scared my body took over. I kicked his elbow and he dropped the gun. When I tried to pick it up he put me on the floor and after a struggle against him pinning my down and grabbing my ass I got the gun. He tried to say I wouldn't shoot him but I did halfway through his sentence. I had to risk falling from the top of the building to get to the fire escape. It was at the same time you guys were leaving the bank. I could see you guys... I got down the escape and took a cab here. I cried on the floor ever since." Ryan stares at me with soft eyes.

"Diane, that was four hours ago." I nod and wipe at my nose.

"I wasn't sure how long I was there. Feels about right..." Ryan sighs and hugs me to him.

"I would say I'll kill the son of a bitch, but uh..." He laughs half-heartedly and I nod into his chest.

"Thank you anyways, Ryan..." There's a long pause of comfortable silence before I sit up to move off his lap. I curl into his side instead and he moves, removing his jacket to show his long sleeve black shirt. I put the jacket over my legs and play with the fabric. I smiled at the battle wounds it held and felt Ryan chuckle.

"Why do you like that jacket so much?" I shrug and rest my head on his arm, sitting up a bit.

"I don't know. Because it shows how much shit you've been through and what you're going through." He shrugs and nods.

"I guess it does."

-

So for our date tonight Ryan said he was going to pick me up at seven. It's five and that little fucker is a god damn liar. He showed up at my door an hour ago. I didn't even recognize him. He cut and dyed his hair, didn't do his face paint, and he wore a normal outfit. If he didn't speak I would have thought some guy just showed up at my door. His once shoulder length black hair was now a short dirty blonde and his shirt was a short sleeve black v-neck and some jeans with converse. Honestly, still attractive. I grabbed the flour and handed it to Ryan while he covered the chicken tenders in it.

"You don't have to cook." I remind him. "If you would have just told me the truth..." I trailed my sentence and he smirked.

"We both know you wouldn't let me do this for the first date."

"Is this even a date?"

"Any night not on the job with yours truly is a date." He says with a matter-of-fact voice. I rolled my eyes playfully and he chuckles at my tongue being stuck out at him. I go to the couch and settle onto it with wine on the table with two glasses. "Go ahead and start the movie." I shake my head and pour wine into both of our glasses.

"Shut up, I am not going to start it without you, loser."

"So rude." I giggle and nod.

"You have no idea." The movie we chose was Alice in Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass. I was excited to see it since it came out in theaters. I bought it on DVD immediately. I wait patiently for Ryan to finish the chicken and come to the couch.

"Alright, forty-five minutes then pause it." I nod at his instructions and curl up into him his leather jacket over my legs like yesterday. "Did I leave that here or did you steal it?" He asks with a small smile.

"Both." He shakes his head and sips on the wine. Usually Ryan doesn't drink so I only gave him a little of the wine. The movie intro slowly begins and I watch with such an intensity that I swear in forty-five minutes when I pause it I will be angered like a fucking beast. So as the movie progresses, I know that I am right when I pause it. "Ryan, it was such a good moment!" I yell, frustrated.

"The chicken is gonna burn!" He argues back. I pout and he shakes his head, laughing lightly.

"Since when do you cook, by the way?" I ask, curious. "I always cooked for you guys." He shrugs and thinks back.

"Oh, I wanna say I started cooking... I'm thirty-five, so about twenty years ago?" My mouth drops open and I stand from the couch while walking to him.

"You never told me that! I always cooked! You could have helped..."

"But I didn't want to screw up such a wonderful meal." He says quickly.

"Okay, flattering my cooking isn't going to help you." I comment.

"Well I'm sorry?" I hum and tap my chin. I lean up and kiss him.

"You're lucky I like you." He rolls his eyes and grabs my waist, pulling me close and kissing me again. I push back and point to the stove. "Chicken?" He groans and spins to it before pulling the meat from the oven. I giggle at him and he serves a plate for both of us with two tenders each and mashed potatoes with corn. We go back to the couch and position ourselves with our food before I play the movie again. The movie lasted for quite a while and the credits had rolled by. Our plates were empty and our glasses were too. I was tipsy while Ryan was slightly buzzed. He said his head felt clear but that's it for him. I was squinting every now and then to focus my blurry eyes.

"I should go. We have a job in the morning and Jack said that after yesterday he wants you to stay home for a while. Just to clear the air." I nod in understanding instead of arguing about my brother's decisions. I wouldn't want to go on a mission after yesterday. He stands from the couch and I grab his hand.

"Wait, can you just put me to bed? I don't feel well." He stares at me and I frown, puffing out my lip to give him a sorrow look I couldn't pull off called Puppy Eyes. "Please?" He rolls his eyes and nods, picking me up and carrying me to the bedroom. I smile when he puts me on the bed.

"There." He tries to walk away and I yet again grab his hand. "What now?"

"Will you stay with me?" I whisper. His hand closes around mine for a moment and I stay quiet with it. "Just for a while?" He nods after a thought and takes off his shoes, climbing into bed with me. I curl up to his side and he seems tense. "Are you okay?"

"Honestly, I'm nervous." He admits. I smile small and shake my head.

"Don't be. I like this." He rubs a hand on my back softly.

"Me too."


	8. Eight

I woke up to Ryan gone the next morning. I didn't expect him to stay. I was just needy and he knew that. From all the stories I've heard about 'Vagabond' it sure is a strange view to see Ryan so loving towards me. I expected danger and tense moments and maybe even fighting. I didn't expect someone who would hold me when I cried, make me dinner and watch a movie all night with me, and even stay when I asked. In the first six months that I met Ryan, he was as the stories told. He was stand-offish, always tense, and almost never talked to me unless I spoke first. It seems like now we were always talking to each other from the beginning or like we were close since we met. Today there was a big heist. It was three days after our date- meaning it was Monday. I expected to just sleep and relax like I've been since no one has contacted me with job instructions, but that went straight out the window when I got a frantic call from Geoff.

"Kid, we need help." I could hear screaming and usual gunfire on the other line, but this one was different. "Gavin and Jack aren't responding and Michael and Jeremy aren't sounding good. I need you to track their coms and see where the fuck they were last seen at. Ryan and I are in the clear so we can hunt for them." I nod and immediately grab my laptop from under the bed, setting it on my lap. I wait impatiently for it to load up. Once it does I pull up the applications I had installed for tracking the coms. It was an annoying process but it worked. I hold the phone between my shoulder and ear.

"Says Gavin was near the alley you parked the truck and Jack was further down by the street. Michael and Jeremy are currently moving north towards Phillips' airport."

"Okay, you go and get Gavin and Jack, we will go for Michael and Lil J." I nod and close my laptop while standing from the bed. "And report as soon as you find anything."

"Yes sir."

"Be careful, Diane." It was very rare for Geoff to use my name. This was serious. I slipped on my converse and pulled on Ryan's jacket, him giving up and buying a new one. He claimed this one was worn out anyways. His cologne was still lingering on it. I walked to the door and locked it behind me while grabbing the keys to the first car Jack got me from his garage. Until I save up enough for a car, Jack has been letting me borrow his cheaper cars. This one was an Elgy. I slipped inside and turned on the ignition, speeding down the right roads to reach the alley the coms were last in. I spin the car and almost hit the building before I finally get down the alley way. Immediately I see many dead cops and no more in the area. I see the get away vehicles pelted in bullet holes and immediately my heart sings. This isn't a good sight. I dive out of the car and towards the many dead bodies.

"Please be okay..." I whisper the sentence repeatedly until I see no familiar faces in the bloody mess of corpses.

"D?" I hear Gavin's voice and I spin to face where it came from. Sitting against the wall was Gavin with his shades cracked on the floor beside him and three bullets in his body. One was in his leg, one in his arm, and one in his ribs. I gathered myself to my feet and rushed to him.

"Gavin!" I searched his ear for his com which caused him to weakly point to the ground. I turned and saw a shattered green and black device the size of my fingertip. It got smashed. That explains the no response. I pull out my cell and dial up Geoff.

"Got something?"

"Gavin is shot in the arm, leg, and ribs. I'll call Caleb. I needed to call in. Michael and Jeremy?"

"Down the road. Going to them now. Get Gavin out of there and find Jack." I nod my head and hang up the line to call Caleb.

"Yo-"

"Get your ass down to the alley by Twenty-four Seven and take Gavin back to the safe house to heal. I gotta find my brother." I hang up the phone so he had no time to respond and look at Gavin, who smiles weakly.

"Go find Jack, love." I shake my head and sit on the wall beside him.

"I'm not leaving you." I tell him. 

"But that's your brother." His face was pale and his lips were looking even more pink. "He could be dying."

"Well so are you!"

"I was doing fine alone. Just fucking go find Jack." Gavin never swore in the time I've known him. It was terrifying and sounded wrong. I groaned and nodded, standing and running towards the other end of the alley. At the point I had tracked him I found another smashed black and green com.

"Jack!" I shouted, looking around frantically. "Where are you?" There were not so many pedestrians around right now and I was thankful for it.

"Diane?" I heard Jack yell. I spin and see him running towards me. I have tears in my eyes by now as he wraps me in a hug. "Oh my god I thought I was a goner." He whispers. I cry into his chest and he breathes unsteadily. "Did Geoff call you?" I nodded and he pulled back.

"Gavin was dying in the alley. Caleb is on his way." I hear the familiar Brit and another voice in the alley and peak down it to see Caleb and Trevor lifting Gavin into their vehicle. It speeds off immediately. "Come on, let's get out of here. I'm really freaked out right now."

"Yeah okay, hey-" I turn my attention to Jack. "Is that Ryan's jacket?" I look down and clear my throat.

"Yeah. He left it and I couldn't find mine." His eyes narrow and he sighs heavily, pulling my with him towards the car.

"We will discuss this later. Right now let's focus on safety." I nod and follow him to the vehicle.

-

"Thank god." Jack wraps Geoff into a hug before Geoff goes turning to me and ruffling my hair. "Good job, Kid." He pauses for a moment and then yanks my hand into a hug, quickly embracing me and then letting go. I smile lightly at him and Ryan hugs Jack quickly. Ryan turns to me and without hesitation smashes his lips to mine as if it's the last time he'd ever kiss me. To him, it probably was at some point. I pull back and everyone but Jeremy is staring at us. Well, Jeremy is, but not for the same reason.

"Uh..." Michael stutters. "I uh. What?" I clear my throat and shrug.

"We're kind of a thing?" I say with a small smile.

"Since fucking when?"

"Since Tuesday." Ryan answers.

"So almost a god damn week?" Jack yells. I wince at his raised voice and nod. "Why didn't you fucking tell us?"

"Because reactions aren't exactly my strong point in my future vision, Jack!" I defend.

"Well you could have said something!"

"I am now!" There's a long pause before a frustrated groan.

"Alright, alright... I'm happy for both of you. Just don't go grossing us all out. You're my sister and you're my friend." He reminds us. I nod with Ryan and he chuckles. "You two are definitely not the two I pictured together." He admits.

"So who did you picture me with? Adam?" He nods and I laugh lightly. "Figures." The men look between Jack and I as if expecting us to break into an argument like usual. instead, we both calmly pushed past the subject.

"So... Thanks for the back-up." He tells me with a small smirk. "You saved Gavin." I smiled at him and nodded.

"Told you I'm good." He rolls his eyes at my response.

"Alright, burn your ego." I laugh lightly and turn to Ryan. "How you holding up?" I could tell that the stress of losing the crew did a toll on him and Geoff. He shrugs lightly.

"Fine." I nod in assurance and he wanders off to the couch.

-

Two weeks and that equals a month of Ryan and I being a thing. Every job he goes on makes this relationship stronger because we feel as if every job could be his last. Seeing him come back each time safely always makes me feel content in this life. I am sure Ryan doesn't feel the same yet, but I love him. it's early, but the first time I fell in love was a shorter amount of time. That ended on a bad note, but my point is that I know what it feels like to be in love and once again I accepted it. They had bought a safe house over near the north side of town. It was small and at one point Lindsay and Michael lived there until they could afford a better place. It was honestly kind of boring not expecting all six men to come in without consent and then eating all my food and drinking all my alcohol. I missed hearing them laughing at the television or picking on Gavin for his stupid words. I especially missed the feeling of having friends in general. When you get a week and a half alone with yourself you start to feel depressed and you don't want to do anything. Sure, they'd stop by, but only to make sure I was still alive. Jack and Ryan were the ones to visit the most. Geoff came in close third with Jeremy. Michael and Gavin usually hung out with their girls or with each other. I sip on my coffee as I sit on my couch, watching it rain outside. It was raining for the first time in a month. I tucked the blanket over my feet as the steam from my drink swirled into my nose and made me shiver. There was knock at the door and I stood to answer it. The blanket was draped over my should like a cape and my coffee balanced in my hand while the other opened the door. The only thing I could realize happen is arms grabbing me and my coffee falling to the floor with my blanket. I tried to scream out but there was a cloth placed over my mouth with what I knew was chloroform. Of course, I realized this as I was passing out into the stranger's arms. I could hear voices when I opened my eyes next. I wasn't able to place any of them.

"Rise and shine, bitch." I felt a sharp jolt go into my ribs and gasped at the pain. I opened my eyes more and saw a blurry figure of a bulky man stood with a skinnier fella. I groaned and threw my head back.

"Why am I here?"

"Because you killed our boss." I kept quiet and knew whatever was coming was out of the same motive I had for killing Lewis. "We told him he couldn't trust you and that Vagabond boy."

"Yeah?" I asked while straightening up in the hard wooden chair. My hands were tied behind me and my ankles were chained to posts on both sides. "Too bad he didn't listen."

"Don't get cocky." The littler man says. "You will be screaming for us to stop when we get a hold of you."

"What's stopping you now?" The bulkier man steps forwards and punches me in the cheek. Yeah... That's gonna be bruised.

"Woah, John, back up." Tiny pulls John back. "You remember the rules. Get them here and then kill them." John nods and backs away from me more. I see my phone being pulled from a table with weapons on it and John searches through it before walking to me. I see Ryan's contact on the screen under 'Vagabond', per his request, and it dialing him.

"Talk." The phone is on speaker and I hear the machine answer. John cuts off the line and huffs.

"Looks like boyfriend isn't pickin' up." He says with a smirk. "You know who will come? Big brother." He goes to Jack's contact and the screen repeats the process.

"Oh my god, where are you?" Jack says frantically. That's a nice change of sound compared to these goons. I begin to choke up, thinking of how I am leading them right to me.

"I don't know. I'm in some kind of warehouse." I say with a small sniffle.

"Don't fucking cry, bitch!" John backhands me and I whimper, trying hard to focus on not crying.

"Jack, don't come! They're gonna hurt you!" The man hurriedly hangs up the device and throws it to the side.

"Alright, that's enough, Sunshine. Alex, call Gretchen." The little man nods and pulls out his own device.

"Aye. Yeah. They are. Most likely. A-are you sure? Okay..." Alex hangs up and looks at John. "She uh... She said to wait and then when they get here tie them up." How did she expect her two men- That's it... She is planning to send back-up because she knows these two assholes can't do it alone.

"Alright. Until they get here let's knock this one out." Before Alex or I can reply, the same cloth that was once over my mouth returns from his pocket.

-

Shouting. There's a lot of it. I'm pretty sure it is close now.

"Hey!" I hear a familiar voice and then tapping on my cheeks. "Diane, wake up." I open my eyes wearily and see blurry-faced Gavin was waking me up. "She's good!" He shouts to the other men who were firing guns at men in armor. Mercs. I counted the men and saw three were missing: Geoff, Michael, and Jeremy. In front of me firing weapons wildly were Jack and Ryan. "Her ankles are chained. We need the key!" He tells them while cutting my ropes with a pocket blade. Suddenly as Jack is firing, his gun jams and Ryan is the only one shooting. His gun runs out of bullets as if on cue and they both get swarmed.

"No!" I yell. Gavin looks up, mutters a swear or two, and then ducks behind my chair. I knew the doofus was caught as soon as he did it because this is a god damn wooden chair. They could see him. He was immediately grabbed and pulled with the other two towards the main room they all came from. John's familiar face comes into view and I see the shining silver key that matched the padlocks around my ankles. "What are you gonna do?" I ask while he quietly removes the locks. He doesn't answer me and instead grabs my arms, which were now freed. When he pulled one from behind me without the other and gave a stunned look, I swung and landed a punch on his bulky face. "Don't ever-" I swing on him again and this time he falls, "-ever-" once more as I kick his ribs, "-fucking touch me again." I cross my arms and stand back from him. He has a wild anger in his eyes but chose to control it as I followed him out the room and the main one that held the crew. Each one of them were on their knees with their hands tied and Ryan's shackled from the precautions he caused with his stories or past events that were well known.

"Hello, Diane." Gretchen says, coming from behind two mercs. "So, straight to the point; You killed my dad and now I'm gonna take everything from you. The best part? You're gonna be the one to tell me everything about your crew." I arch and eyebrow and cross my arms.

"Oh, I am?" She glances at John and nods her head towards me. I hear John step forwards and I point my finger to his face. "What the fuck did I tell you?" The man ignores my request from earlier- a demand really- and grabs me. I swing at him and he takes the punch I blow.

"You bitch!" He's about to hit me again when Gretchen groans.

"Hey!" John turns to look at her. "We gonna do this or what?" The woman glares cold at me while John wipes blood from his lip and nose. Ropes are quickly binding my hands again within seconds and I grunt at the force John puts into tying the knot. I am forced into another chair that was more solid and looked newer than the previous one. I wasn't shackled to this one at the ankles, but to the hips. I refused to look at the crew as Gretchen came over to me. She grabs a knife from the mercs and puts the blade's tip at my throat with a dark smirk on her face. "Let's play."


	9. Nine

"Stop!" I hear Ryan yell, breathing hard as blood drips down my forearm and onto the floor from both sides. "I'll tell you everything." I look at Ryan and shake my head.

"But-"

"Last time I trusted you, my dad got shot." Gretchen points out. "So why should I let you save her?"

"Oh, I'm not doing this for Diane." I furrow my brow and see the men watching Ryan with confusion. Jack looked like he suddenly hated the man. "I'm doing this as part of a deal with you." Gretchen smirks and crosses her arms.

"And what would that deal be?"

"If I tell you everything, you let me go. No chase, nothing. I sell them out and I'm a free man to move on." Gretchen looked at the Mercs and nodded to remove his cuffs and ropes. As they did, he refused to look at us. Was he serious?

"You fucking asshole." Geoff says with the shake of his head. "Six fucking years with you..." Geoff sighed in disbelief as the others shouted at Ryan in anger. I am forced out of the chair after I am unchained and use my feet to kick him square in the stomach.

"I loved you, you prick." Tears were in my eyes as I turned away from his cold stare. My hair fell in front of my face and I was thrown down harshly beside Jack. I waddled my body upwards once more and refused to look at anyone. If I could, I would run. As soon as I heard Ryan say those words, I knew I fell for the wrong person.

"Tell me what you know." Gretchen says with a smile playing on her words. I didn't even have to look at her to see it. I stared at the cold concrete floor while the chill from it seeped through my freshly cut clothes. Dirt covered my cuts and usually I would try and clean it any way I could but I just couldn't handle it right now. I was focused on not breaking down.

"Okay, so you remember the heist that last happened?" Gretchen in quiet and I assume she is nodding. "Well you can go fuck yourself as you try and find out the take we got." Ryan's voice was cold and hard. My head snapped up and I saw all five men looking at Ryan as he fought two mercs and Gretchen at one time. We were all stunned and he finally was slammed into the same chair I was in, chains going around his hip and ankles, too. the look of anger on everyone's faces but ours made the room balanced. It was flipped once more and Ryan was in the lead of pissing people off. The knife that still had my blood tinting it was now pressed into Ryan's arm. He laughs lightly and wiggles under it. "That really tickles, stop!" He squeals, laughing. Gretchen grunts in frustration and moves to his shoulder, stabbing the knife deep into it from the front. "Fuck! Yeah, bring it on, little girl!" I wince at every poke, jab, scratch, and marking Gretchen does to him. It continues on for about two minutes before Ryan pushes her over the edge. "Do you even know how to torture someone?" She grabs the mask and pulls it off without him being able to react. When it shows his painted face underneath, she smirks.

"Well I would like to show you real torture, Vagabond. I just want you to see it close up." She nods her head at one of the mercs and he walks over to Gavin, pulling him by the hair to be beside the chair. Gavin pants as I wriggle in my ropes to try and loosen it. It helped slightly but not enough. "Have you ever watched your friends beg for their lives?"

"You're weak. Try your family!" I stare at Ryan and see the complete anger in his face. I've never seen him so upset and frustrated. I wanted to get up and kill everyone that was around us. I couldn't, and even if I could, I'm sure I was too weak to do so.

"Well technically, aren't they all your family?" Gretchen looks around towards the crew and smirked largely when she saw the complete hatred in Ryan's eyes. "Cut his fingers one at a time." A man moves forwards to Gavin and in seconds that same man is on the ground with a knife through his chest. My own blood dripped onto his face before I realized I was the weapon's wielder. I pulled the knife out and turned to Gretchen, who had two built men and John protecting her now. The knife falls from my hands and I look at the blood staining my skin. I killed a man and didn't even know it. I've killed out of protection, but this was different. I didn't even realize I'd done it.

"Diane!" Jack yells and I snap into focus. One of the men moves to make a grab at me but I move backwards while Ryan kicks him in the leg sideways. Gavin scrambles to move his hands under his ass and his legs tucked behind them. He stands and uses his bound hands to strangle one of the other guys from behind. Michael and Jeremy quickly follow Gavin's movements and do the same to three of the others while Jack and Geoff were just using their legs to kick them in groins and stomachs. I go to Ryan and unbind him from the chains and yank the key from Gretchen as she fought off Gavin from the man he brought to the ground. I unlocked the padlocks but on the last one I am yanked backwards to the ground with a hard thump to the back of my head. My vision goes fuzzy and my ears ring from the impact but I stand on alert with adrenaline pumping through me now. Gretchen runs at me and with a small bound into the air lands a heavy punch on my cheek.

"You bitch!" She yells, coming to me and grabbing my collar just to punch me again. "You killed my dad!" Another. "You expect to live?" I am tossed to the ground once more. "Do you fucking know who I am?" I shield my face when she raises her foot but I don't feel contact. Instead I feel a liquid dripping onto my leg from one of the open slits in my jeans. I open my eyes and see a blade -my machete- through her gut and twist to the side before being yanked out. With a gasp she falls to the ground with a gagging fit and open eyes glaring at me. I watch in fear and sickness as she keeps her eyes trained on me until her pupils dilate to show she has died. I look up to Gavin with my machete in his hand and the other extended to me. I gladly take it for him to pull me up. When I'm on my feet I can see all the men including Ryan fighting off the little group of mercs left.

"Come on." Gavin grabs my hand and pulls me towards the door. "We gotta get you out of here." I stop and hesitate following him.

"What about the crew?"

"They know the way to the safe house." I shake my head and try to slow him.

"We can't-"

"Jack's orders were to protect you, D!" I stare at Gavin and look at the men fighting. "Now come on." I nod and follow him out the door.

-

Gavin and I were at the new safe house. No one has contacted us from the crew. We were feared they weren't okay and that more mercs came in. We discussed going back but Gavin said that was out of the question and was against his orders. I understood what he meant and didn't push it. If there's anything I learned about this crew it's to not go against orders. He had patched me up on my cuts that were needed to be attended to and I did the same to him. We were both pretty beaten up from our attackers.

"Meg hasn't come around that often anymore." I tell him while trying to strike up a conversation. He shrugs and scratched the back of his neck.

"We haven't exactly been on good terms because of something that happened with Ryan a few weeks back." I arch my eyebrow. "It was before I knew he was dating you." I nod and beckon for him to continue. "She and him went out for dinner at this one place downtown that I wanted to take Turney to. It was a thank you dinner for always having our backs when she was hired as an assassin for the crew but uh... I didn't like it."

"And now you know it was not a romantic dinner?"

"I should probably talk to her about it." I nod and sit back more on the couch. I really didn't want to see Ryan right now. What he did embarrassed all of us but mainly me because I admitted something I didn't want to admit in that way. I fiddled with a bandage wrapped around my wrist from the ropes and stared at the loose cotton strands I was pulling off. "You alright, Love?" I glance at the Brit and smile small. Instead of lying, I shake my head. "What's up?"

"I'm angered at Ryan for what he did."

"What?" He asks. "You mean lying to Gretchen?" I shrug and nod.

"Partly. I mean, I'm glad he was lying, but it caused me to do something I didn't want to do..."

"Admit that you love him?" I nod again and Gavin sighs lightly, scooting over to me from the other end of the couch. "When I admitted I love Meg it was pretty much the same thing. She was hurt pretty badly and I was angry at her. So, when I was arguing with her about how she wasn't careful enough I told her I didn't want to lose someone I love." I smile small and elbow him playfully in the ribs.

"You're a moron." He chuckles and nods.

"I suppose I am." The door opens and in comes a beaten group of five men. Immediately my eyes fall on Ryan. My spine sends a harsh shiver through my back when I see his cold ice blue eyes staring at me already.

"I'm gonna go." I say loudly. I go to the door and hug Jack, waving good-bye to everyone else. "I'm glad you're all okay." I begin to walk out of the house without looking at anyone else before a hand catches mine. To my surprise it isn't Ryan or Jack. It's Geoff. He immediately pulls me into a tighter hug than what I had given him and I nod at him when he releases me. His eyes search mine for a moment before he lets go fully. I knew he wanted to make sure I was okay. I walked from the house completely without another interruption. The cab rides always seem shorter every time I take one. When I get into the house I see my blanket and mug still on the floor from when I was nabbed. I quickly began to clean it up when a piece of the glass cut my thumb. Compared to today's events it felt like a bee sting. I cleaned up the broken pieces and saw the carpet was now stained with the caffeinated liquid. I pull my stained and sticky blanket from the puddle before tossing the broken glass in the trash and walking towards the washing machine. Maybe I didn't have a right to be mad at Ryan. It's not like I am denying that I love him. Then again, he hasn't said anything to me since. We haven't exactly had time to talk, though. I groaned while slamming the washing machine lid closed. I hate being an adult with problems. Maybe I should start doing things on my own. Because of big groups shit like this happens. I mean, look at Abbadon- I mean Kat... She has been doing swell on her own and she even kept her identity hidden from others. She married Jeremy for christ sakes and is fine! I'm just overthinking this mess. Maybe Ryan doesn't want to be with me anymore... I mean, he hasn't called me since I left and Geoff was the one to stop me. Should I call him first? No... That seems desperate. Maybe I am? I shake my head. No. I'm not. I'm just scared. I walk away from the washer and to the bedroom. I feel like getting a dog. I could use protection when the crew can't drop everything. Then again, I denied a bodyguard. Why would I want one? That's just a stranger I'm trusting with my life. I can't go for that. I'd rather have a dog that can't betray me easily for money. I grab my laptop from under the bed and walk back to the living room. My phone had a blinking light to show I had a text and I open my phone. It's from Geoff.

Kid, we know you want to be a big girl, but call me when you are serious about your protection?

I sigh and press the call button. I was serious about getting a dog. The phone rings on the other line three almost four times before Geoff answers.

"That was fast."

"I want a dog." I say immediately.

"Uh... A dog?" His voice crackled in confusion. I nod with my hand clutching the phone tightly. "Are you sure you don't want a bodyguard? You know, someone with a gun?" I shake my head and open my laptop.

"I want a fucking dog, Geoff. A big one. One that can't be bribed with money or with family. Just me." There is a long pause on his side. "I'm telling you now: You hire a man I will personally kick his ass from my presence. Get me a goddamn dog. A Rottie or Great Dane. Something big and mine."

"Fine! I'll get you a fucking mutt." I smirk and look up the website to the local shelter. "Hey, you and Ryan..." He trails and I listen closely. "He's been quiet ever since you uh, admitted the thing to him." I swallowed thickly. "You should-"

"No." I say quietly.

"Why not?"

"Because he made me feel dumb and played. It wasn't the right time for me to say that and he made me feel like a complete moron." I explain. "I just don't want to see him right now."

"Is that really the adult thing to do? Ignore him?" I bite my cheek and hold back and annoyed grunt. "Come on, Diane, he needs to know. It's Ryan for fuck's sake." I know he's right but if there's one thing I'm good at that is being dumb and stubborn.

"He'll be fine. He's a big boy." I say with a venomous tone. Geoff groans and I can hear movement on the other line.

"Talk to her!" Geoff yells. I hear the same groan Geoff gave before another voice comes on the line. My heart sinks.

"What?" It was Ryan. I stay quiet. "Hello?" His voice just got more annoyed. "She isn't talking."

"Talk to him, you idiot!" That time it was Jack's voice. I rolled my eyes and cleared my throat.

"Hi." There's silence on his end now. "I don't want to talk right now."

"Yeah well, same here."

"Why are you so pissed?" I ask. "You have nor right to be mad at me!"

"You kicked me in the stomach!"

"Because you made me-" I stop myself and shake my head. "I'm not doing this. Not right now and not like this. I'm done."

"You're done? With what?"

"This!"

"What's this?" I stare at the laptop screen and bite my tongue, not wanting to say it. "Because whatever this is needs to be settled right now or it won't be."

"I'm done with us." I say softly. I was angry and I knew I'd regret this later but for right now I didn't even want to be around Ryan. That's not a relationship.

"Okay." With no more words left for me to say I hang up.


	10. Ten

Cuts and bruises covered my arms from the torture of yesterday's events. My face hurt and it looked worse than it felt. I haven't talked to anyone from the crew. I looked online at the shelter yesterday and saw that there were two Rotties and a Great Dane for extreme prices but were totally worth it. For how much yard space I had in the back and how big this house was I could get either the two Rotties or the Great Dane but not all of them. I frowned at the thought and washed my face before looking in the mirror again. I have to admit it looks better than yesterday when I saw it before bed. Now the color was lighter and the cuts were healing. I removed the bandages before bed and saw my bruised wrists were worse than most of my body. I looked absolutely thrashed... I grabbed my phone from the sink and saw four messages. One from Jack, one from Caiti, and the other two from Geoff. I read them all, Jack's first.

Are you alive? I know you're mad but you can't hate all of us...

I sighed and replied with a long message saying I'm sorry and that I will try to not ignore him again. Next I read Caiti's.

Jack said you're ignoring him... He loves you, D. So do I and I miss you a lot. Dinner on Tuesday for your birthday?

My teeth trap my bottom lip as I think of a reply. I didn't want Caiti to see me this way... Especially for a meet up after a long time of not talking. I only talk to her every once in a while but we were still close. I finally send her a positive reply and a sorry also. Next was Geoff's.

I'm coming over at ten and we are going to the shelter.

You're spoiled, you know that?

I smile small and check the time in the top right hand corner of the phone. It was nine-fifty nearly. I looked at my clothes and shrugged at the sweatpants and over sized hoodie I wore. Fuck it. All I needed was a cover-up for my face. Then again, I was getting guard dogs. I don't care anymore. There was a knock on the door and I go to it, cautious to answering it now. Thankfully it was Geoff.

"I still had ten minutes." I tell him playfully. He rolls his eyes and pulls me towards the car with him.

"Come on you tool." I smirk and follow him with my purse being grabbed from the hook by the door. I walk with him to the car and take my seat in the passenger's side. "So what dog you decided on?"

"Two Rotties." I reply. Geoff turns down the right road that's a straight run to the shelter.

"Wait, I thought you wanted only one?"

"Why get one when I can have two?" He rolls his eyes and laughs lightly.

"You're an idiot."

"Or am I a genius?" I contradict his statement. "Think about it: Double the protection." He laughs again and looks over his shoulder before merging to the right lane and pulling into the shelter's lot. I honestly have never been so excited. I never had my own pet let alone two. I step out of the car with my purse and Geoff steps out of his side.

"Your face looks like shit by the way." He comments.

"Wow, you know just what a girl loves to hear." I say with a smirk. "Griffon must love it."

"Alright, I get it. You know what I meant." I nod and walk to the door with him. We go to the front counter and the lady smiles sweetly at us until she sees my beaten face. She eyes Geoff and I shake my head.

"He doesn't beat me, I got into a bad fight with a group of bullies." I say quickly. She still eyes Geoff but clears her throat.

"What can I do for you today?"

"I was interested int he two Rottweilers you had on your website."

"The two sisters?" I nod at her. "Well they will each be two-hundred each for the insurance and-" Geoff slaps four one-hundred bills on the table during her sentence and I didn't even notice he was holding his wallet and waiting for the price. I furrowed my brows at Geoff.

"I could have gotten them, Ramsey..." I mutter. He shrugs and puts his wallet back in his pocket.

"I can at least buy you two dogs for your protection, Kid." I roll my eyes but thank him nonetheless.

"Alright, I'll bring them out for you." The lady says with a look of excitement on her face. As she leaves I sigh.

"I wish I could have gotten the Dane, too."

"Oh, you mean Arthur?" I look at Geoff and he smirks. "I didn't tell you that Jack got him for his own protection?" I stare at him for quite some time. "I looked on the shelter page and I knew you'd want Thelma and Louise. So Jack bought Arthur." I laughed lightly and shook my head.

"That little sneak..." The door opens again and two Rottweilers with bobbed tails come running to the first person they see which is me. I smile and open my arms to them. I fucking love dogs. I wrap my arms around them and the woman laughs at the scene.

"I just need you to sign some papers for releases and then they are free to go!" She says. I nod and stand, following her to the desk. "Those two have been here for months... I thought they'd never get adopted. The longest a dog has been here. Let alone two." I smile at the fact that I was causing this lady's happiness and giving these two dogs their home. I had the signed and documented papers back to the young woman and she smiles wide. "They're yours!" I thank her and grab both leashes. I inspect Thelma and see that she had a small tan spot between her eyes and Louise did not. There was the difference I needed to recognize.

"I swear to god if my car smells like dog you are cleaning it." I shrug and smile wide at him.

"Worth it!"

-

Thelma and Louise have been doing well in the house. I had bowls of food and water in the kitchen beside the fridge in a large empty area behind the dining table. There were dog beds that they enjoyed playing and rolling in. Jack and Caiti stopped by to visit and I expected Caiti to comment on my face but she decided against it. They left about thirty minutes ago. It was now five in the afternoon and I was talking to Michael and Gavin in our chat online while playing a video game.

"So when do you think you'll talk to Ryan?" Gavin asks through the muffled microphone. I chose to ignore the question.

"Dude go left." I tell Michael. "There's a chest." He follows my instructions.

"Answer the question, D." Michael says with an annoyed tone. I groan and shake my head.

"I don't think I can. I don't have a future calendar that tells me when I'm gonna do something." I reply.

"Well he hasn't exactly been the same without you."

"Oh whatever, he's fine." Michael groans when his character falls onto spikes and Gavin and I hop along just fine.

"Are you?" Gavin's question stunned me and I grunted.

"Can we not talk about my no longer love-life?" They stay quiet and I sigh. "Maybe this was a bad idea. I should go."

"No, come on, I'm sorry for the questions..." He tries to apologize and I accept it, staying around.

"When can we come and play with Thelma and Louise?" Michael asks. I laugh lightly and enter the ending tunnel to the next level.

"Whenever you want."

"So like can we right now?" Gavin snickers at Michael's response.

"I don't care."

"Wait for reals?"

"Yeah, for reals."

"Alright I'm gonna come over then."

"Come and get me, my boy!" Gavin shouts, trying to frantically kill a spider monster by the entrance. I laugh again at them and shake my head.

"I'll see you guys in about ten?"

"Yes you will." Michael replies. I turn off the chat and the game, knowing I had to prepare the house for them. There's a knock at the door and the dogs bark at the alarming noise. Good to know they were already protective. It couldn't be Gavin or Michael so I grab my pistol to be prepared. I open the door quickly with the pistol aimed at whomever it was. My eyes land on blue ones and I still don't lower the gun.

"Wow..." Ryan says with a huff. "You break up with me and don't hesitate to kill me?" I roll my eyes and shut the door in his face. I walk away from the door and hear it open to Ryan letting himself in. "Can't we ever fucking talk about this?"

"No!" I yell, turning to him. Immediately I see Thelma come to my side and Louise cautiously sniffing Ryan's pants.

"And why not?" I keep quiet. "You act like you're the only one with a fucking opinion!" I groan and turn from him, putting my pistol on the counter and grabbing whiskey from the liquor cabinet.

"I don't want to talk about this right now." I am about to pour the liquor into a cup when Ryan takes it from me and puts it behind him.

"Then when, dammit?" I glare at him and try to reach for the liquor again. "Diane, stop." I do as told and stare coldly at him the entire time. He does the same right back at me. "What's gotten into you?" I cross my arms and back away from him.

"What do you think has gotten into me?" I shout. "You!" He just stares at me while I feel my body beginning to shake. "I let you get under my skin and make me feel different and then you just make me feel like an idiot and like I don't have a right to be angry. I have every fucking right to be angry at whatever I want. Do you even understand why I'm mad?"

"Because I made you say something you didn't want to yet." Oh good; He knew. Great.

"Correct. And do you know why I got so angry about it?"

"Because I embarrassed you."

"Right. You know what's worst of all?"

"What?"

"I feel like an idiot for even feeling it!" The room falls silent and even the dogs don't move. "I've been warned about you and I've been burned in the past by people like you. You didn't even try to fight me when I said I was done. You just let it happen."

"Because I was scared." He admits. I stare at him in disbelief. "What? Vagabond can't be scared? Look, Diane, I'm scared of hurting you. I thought I made that very clear throughout this whole time I've known you. So knowing that I made you hate me even slightly made me mad at myself. Then hearing you say what you did made me even more scared. I can't let you get hurt and you have to understand that. The one time- the one fucking time I wasn't there at that shitty office with you Lewis tried to kill you or even rape you. I would have fucking loved to rip his head off. You know what scares me the most, though?" I could hear the shaking in his voice from trying to calm himself. "The way you look at me when I kill someone." I swallow thickly when he takes a step forwards. I take a step back and he huffs, shaking his head. "See what I mean? You're scared of me. You don't love me, Diane. Think about it. I'm just protection." I shake my head and bite my tongue. "I'm just another guard dog."

"Shut up!" I cry out, tears coming to my eyes. "My feelings for you haven't changed and what upsets me is they probably won't! Yes, you are protection, but you have no god damn right in telling me how I feel about you because you always fucking put your own thoughts into other people's." We stay quiet and tears streak my pained cheeks. "Just go..." He doesn't move. He just stays there with his eyes flicking back and forth between mine. "Please." I don't look at him as he walks towards the door. I hear it open but it doesn't close. He turns in the doorway to make me look at him.

"I'll always protect you, D." I stare at him with a quivering lip. "Always." With those as his last words he shuts the door.

-

Do you know how annoying it is to be in pain on your birthday? It's been a week since that talk with Ryan. Michael and Gavin came over and I told them why Ryan was leaving when they pulled up. They love the hell out of my dogs. I would take them everywhere and I do. Thelma has become the closest to me. Louise likes to wander but she still protects me. I love them both to death. Caiti and I sat in front of the coffee shop with Thelma and Louise tied to the bar fence beside us.

"Your face looks much better." Caiti says while sipping her coffee. I snap my attention to her from my thoughts.

"Thanks." She sighs and grabs my hand.

"Sweetheart, you know you can tell me anything, right?" I nod and think on if this was the time to tell her. "Is it Ryan?" I nod without hesitation and she gives a knowing face. "It's been a week. Don't you think it's time to stop thinking about it? The more you do the harder it is to get over. Trust me."

"Why does he care about me so fucking much?" I ask, frustrated. "I mean, he's a criminal. He shouldn't like me at all."

"You're a criminal too, D."

"I know..."

"So that gives him a right to like you." I listen carefully to my best friend. "You love him. What makes you think he has no right to like you at all if you have fallen for the fool? What makes you so special to be an exception?" I nod my head in understanding. "All I'm saying is don't be a hypocrite." I sip on my hot chocolate and stare at the dogs beside us. Thelma was laying her head on the concrete between her paws while Louise was laying halfway on her back. I smile small at the rots and look at Caiti.

"I'm sorry I've been so distant." I comment. She shakes her head.

"I'm just as at fault as you, Diane." I stay quiet and clear my throat.

"I'm gonna go home. Thanks for breakfast and coffee, Caiti."

"No you aren't." She says, stopping me from getting up. "Today is your birthday. I'm not gonna let you sit at home and mope around." She stares at me with a serious face and points at me. "We are going to have fun." I frown and look at the dogs. "Don't worry, they can come. Come on." Caiti stands and I follow, untying my pets and walking to the car with her. I let the dogs in the back and close the doors behind them before getting into the front. I buckle up with Caiti and we drive off towards the highway.

"So where are we headed?" She shrugs and grabs something from beside her gas pedal. She hands it to me and I inspect the object to quickly realize it is a gun.

"Target practice from a moving vehicle." We take the exit towards the desert area of Los Santos and I grab hold of the gun's hilt. We stop off on a dirt road after five minutes that had SUVs parked to the side. Caiti looks at me and winks.

"Who owns those?"

"Some assholes that worked under Lewis. Take their tires out. I shrugged and cocked back the gun. I pointed it out the window and fired, hitting three tires on one before seven men noticed us. "Shit!" Caiti begins to drive. This was that target practice. I took out three more of the vehicles' tires and then two men before we were out of range.

"Go!" I shout, feeling the familiar pumping of adrenaline. Caiti cheers as she does a full spin to go the other direction.

"Good shooting!" She yells over the excitement that filled the car. I look behind us and see two of the six SUVs peeling out with dust flying behind them. I look back at Thelma and Louise and see them happily panting in the back seat. They must have been in a gunfight area before. I reloaded the gun with the second magazine Caiti tossed me and aimed out the window at the front tire. The wind pushed my hair in front of my eyes and I missed at first shot. I pushed my hair out of my face but it just kept going back in my eyes. I grunted and held the gun with one hand holding my hair back and the other firing. I hit the tire and the SUV swerved before straightening up again. I fired again at the windshield and saw it shatter to reveal a man with a bullet in his forehead. Holy shit I got one! I duck back into the car and look at Caiti.

"I got a driver!" I look in the rear view to see that SUV flip three times before stopping and the other one going around it. I lean back out and feel a burn as a bullet scrapes my face. "Fuck!" I shout, firing with tears in my eyes. I hit the windshield but I don't hit one of them. I get back inside and wipe my cheek. Caiti takes a hard turn and flips to go back towards the city by crossing over the middle of the highway. We receive disapproving honks and yells but we ignore them and I lean out the window to fire again. Caiti is cheering me on inside the car as I shoot two tires out and the big vehicle spins. I duck back inside and put the gun on my lap. "That felt amazing!" I yell. It was always a thrill to get revenge.

"Jack said you would like it!" Caiti turns off into the city and we pull up to her garage under the overpass. We drive inside once the door opens and closes behind us. We get out of the car and I let the dogs out of the bullet wounded vehicle. Caiti walks over to a Purple and black Entity. I walk the dogs to it and Caiti grabs my free hand, slapping keys into it. I stare at her. "Happy birthday, loser." I gasp and look at the car and then her.

"No way." She nods. "Oh my god!" I dive on her in a hug. "Thank you!" She laughs lightly and hugs me back.

"Thank Gavin. He bought it for you."

"You guys are great..." I pull back from her with a smile splitting my cheeks.

"Anything for my best friend." I wipe tears that were slipping from my eyes and Caiti grabs my face, inspecting the wound from the bullet that grazed it. "You look like a pirate with a scar." I roll my eyes and put the dogs in the part of the car behind the seat. I straighten my seat again and get in, examining the inside. This way my car... Wow. I gotta thank Gavin as soon as I see him. 


	11. Eleven

When I got to the safe house I smiled at everyone there.

"Happy birthday!" They all yelled in unison. Thelma and Louise barked at the sudden outburst of voices but I quickly calmed them.

"Thank you." I said with a smile still plastered to my face. Caiti went to Jack while Griffon stood with Geoff, Michael and Lindsay. Meg and Gavin were off to the side having a personal conversation it seemed while Jeremy and Ryan were chatting at the opposite side of the room. I didn't really want to sit in an unwanted conversation just because I was alone right now so I decided to sit on the couch and the dogs sitting on the carpet beside me.

"Hey, twenty-nine year old." Jack says, clapping me on the back. I look up at him and he smirks. "Big thirty is coming up fast, huh?" I roll my eyes while he takes a seat beside me.

"At least it's coming up. Yours already hit four years back."

"Hey now, I'm congratulating you!" He says with a fake hurt tone. "Not bringing you down." I laugh lightly and he looks at everyone in the room. "I never thought you'd stay long enough to see your birthday here." I look at Jack in slight confusion.

"Well why not?" I ask. He shrugs slightly.

"I just thought that after seeing what I do in life you'd be like Mom and Dad and..." He trails enough to make me realize what he was getting at. My jaw tightens and I shake my head with one hard knock side to side.

"I'm not them, Jack. I never will be." I'm sure my tone sounded colder than I meant for it but after Jack left eight years ago a lot happened between our family. I knew what Jack did. He was on the most wanted list with all his friends. Mom and Dad would always talk down about him to our other relatives or even me sometimes. They acted like I was the good kid because of it. Hell, maybe I was. They didn't know what I did when I wasn't home. I would steal food like I used to just because our parents were sometimes never home and didn't leave any money for anything. Jack taught me how to shoot and use a knife. They would have grounded us until we were both eighteen if they found out about that...

"You never did tell me what happened between you and them." I frowned and cleared my throat.

"Well, you know how Mom and Dad both were uh... Heavy drinkers?" I say with emphasis on 'heavy'. He nods and I shrug. "One night they were drinking and I came home from the bar. They said I wasn't fit for bar-tendering and that I was gonna get raped or killed and all they would say is 'I told you so' or some bullshit. You knew how they felt about my job. Well I got into it with them when I had enough of their bullying. They kicked me out. Here I am now..." I finish my explanation and Jack sighs lightly.

"I'm sorry for how they were towards you. I should have stuck up for you as much as you did for me." I shake my head. "Come on, don't tell me it wasn't a big deal. I think it's a big deal."

"Do you know how they died?" Jack shakes his head. "From overdose and alcohol poisoning." We sit there in silence as there is laughter erupting from the small groups around us. Jeremy and Ryan had formed in with Gavin and Meg while the other five were all together. Jack clears his throat and stands up.

"Cake time!" He shouts, making everyone look at us. I glance to Jack and shake my head.

"No!" He nods.

"Oh yes."

"Why?"

"Because you're old." I roll my eyes as Meg and Caiti hustle out a birthday cake to me carefully, placing it on the coffee table. Thelma and Louise stand straight up at the smell of the cake. As the numbered candles are lit, the group sings the original Happy Birthday song to me. I can't help but feel awkward since I'm just sitting there and staring at people and my cake. At the end I immediately blow out my candles. There's a small bit of cheering before the lights come on and a small sized gift box is heavily tossed down in front of my face. I look up and see Michael with a smirk on his face.

"Open it now or I won't be able to contain myself."

"It's from both of us." Lindsay inputs. "Don't let him take all the credit." I laughed lightly and nodded, opening the box and seeing inside a gaming controller for my console. It had 'LP' written in gold while the controller was black with green buttons and analog sticks.

"This is amazing!" I shout, looking at them. "Thank you so much!" The couple nods at me and I carefully place the object back into the box and close it up again. Next is Geoff and Griffon. They hand me two different smaller boxes, each seeming to want to give their's to me first. I take Geoff's, allowing him to make a winner's face at Griffon, and open it. Inside was a shot glass with the crew emblem on it but with black and gold like my favorite colors instead of green and black.

"One of a kind." Geoff says with a smile. "That way you can be the one with the coolest shot glass." I laugh lightly and thank him before turning to Griffon's box. I open it to reveal a ring with my birthstone inside of it.

"Check out the inside." I do as Griffon says and see my initials engraved in the ring's inner. "Geoff said go all out since it's your first birthday with us." I thank her also and slip on the jewelry. Next to give me a box was Meg. I glance at Gavin and point my finger at him.

"I meant to thank you, I really did. I was gonna tackle you in a hug I promise." Gavin chuckles and nods.

"You're welcome." I open Meg's gift and find a medium sized box with seat covers and a steering wheel cover that matched. They were black and gold.

"You think you'd be tired of those colors by now." Jack says with a low laugh. I shake my head.

"Never!" Next is Jack to give me a box. I peer into it and gasp, shaking my head. "You didn't."

"Oh, but I did." He says with a large grin. I slowly pull out the gift and admire the beautiful Car Tag of the AH Crew logo and then another that had a tower of pimps, AKA: Gavin's code name for a big win, with LP engraved into the golden blocks. "Because you're a big win to this crew, Diane. You're also an okay win of a sister." I laugh and wipe my eyes as they tear up from how emotional it suddenly got for me.

"Thanks, loser." He smiles at me while I put away the gifts carefully. I knew Caiti had given me today as a birthday gift and it was great. I didn't expect anything from anyone really. Jeremy slides a box to my from across the table and I eye him when he has a smirk on his face. I slowly and cautiously open the box but begin to laugh slightly with him when I see Rimmy Tim colors mixed with my own black and gold to form a really fucking cool lava lamp.

"Why were you so scared?"

"Because you are very unpredictable, Dooley!" He laughs with me and nods.

"I suppose I am." I close the box again and then suddenly feel a tap on my shoulder. I turn to look and find Ryan handing me a box. It was a good size but it also was sort of light. I smiled small at him and tried to push all my negative feelings for him out of the way for this one moment. I peeled back the top of the box he gave me and covered my mouth, looking up at him. He didn't seem to want to look me in the eyes at the moment and I don't blame him. I pull out the black leather jacket that looked exactly like Ryan's except instead of blue and silver accents the shoulders were green and the lines on the sleeves were gold. He knew I loved his jacket and even after this whole mess I still kept it. I wouldn't admit it, but I put it away in my closet. Since it's starting to snow, this jacket was perfect.

"Thank you, Ryan." I whisper. He nods at me just before Michael grabs the cake in front of me.

"Let's eat, bitches!"

-

Okay, step one to being a criminal: Do bad shit to piss people off. Step two: If a crew member from a rival crew sees you, most definitely do not get caught. Finally, step number three: don't fucking get caught. You know which rule I did that broke that next two? That's right...

"You thought fucking up one of our warehouses was fun?" Burnie Burns asks with a huff. "I thought we were friends?" I roll my eyes and relax into the chair they had my tied up into.

"After you guys left Fake AH running dry? Hilarious."

"Shut your trap, girl!" Joel shouts with an accent deep like Burnie's. I arch an eyebrow at him.

"Are you serious, Joel?"

"I said shut it."

"Alright, enough of the shit accents!" Burnie and Joel snap their eyes at each other and then back to me. "I've known you guys since before you fucked us over. Now drop the accents and act like adults since I'm here, yeah?"

"Why should we listen to you?" Burnie asks with a normal voice now. "You tried to rob us."

"Don't you think there's a reason I would try something so ignorant?" I ask with a huff. "Look around, boys... You think I would play dumb?" Suddenly guns come from the doorway before the rest of the Fake AH Crew. Burnie and Joel put their hands up.

"You little-"

"Hey!" Ryan says, cutting off Burnie and focusing them to be on him. "We are the ones here to do business. Not her."

"Well then aren't you in for a change of events." Joel smirks and elbows Burnie like they had some inside joke. The room in echoed by the dropping bodies of all the men dropping to the ground almost simultaneously. Well, except for Ryan. He was still struggling while Burnie and Joel shared laughs at the other five who had fallen to the ground. "We don't play dumb either." Burnie walks closely to Ryan, whom was being held back by who I had recognized as Gus and Kerry. John, Joel, and Barbara all began pulling the unconscious men to the side and tying them individually. The hits weren't hard enough to keep them down for long so they all moved fast.

"Why did you spare me, huh?" Ryan asks. "Why not knock me out like the rest?"

"Because like I said, we didn't play dumb and we aren't going to." Burnie walks to me and looks at Ryan. "You sent your best friend's sister in here to steal from us as a distraction for the big picture am I right? So when she was captured, you knew we would try to use her against you all. And why is it that we left you awake to hear her scream in pain from the torture we are going to give her?" Ryan stays quiet. "Come on, Vaga, I know you know why." When Ryan shakes his head, Burnie sighs. "Well if ya ain't gonna say it, I might as well start the lovely session. Tie em up, fellas." Kerry and Gus work quickly and against Ryan heavily until the man is securely bound to a concrete post that was holding up the next floor of the building. Burnie goes to the chair I am in again and leans down. "Sorry, Sweetheart. It was his choice." When he leans up again I glance at Ryan, who hasn't made eye contact with me. It's been a week and a half since my birthday and Ryan and I are on good terms. Right now, though, that may change.

"Stop it!" I yelled when he pulled a knife from his belt and put it against my skin. "What do you want?" I ask, annoyed. My wounds had just fully healed from bruising and I had scars on my face and arms now. I didn't want more.

"Oh, well, see, I just want Mr. Bond to say what he needs to in order to make the gears turn. I want to see fire in his eyes, ya know? Much like there was in mind when he practically forced Ashley to leave me!" His voice raised at the end when he looked over his shoulder at Ryan.

"But we aren't together." Burnie leans closer and places his lips near my ear.

"You don't need to be together to have a connection, LP." He pulls back and I feel a shiver run up and down my spine. The knife digs into my skin and my body clenches. The pain heightens my emotions and I am panting, trying to relax my body and focus on anything else other than the pain. The knife lifts and is once again placed onto my flesh but at the base of my collar bones. "Would you like to say why I'm doing this, Vaga?" Ryan still stays quiet. "Alright..." The blade slides to slice my skin open and blood runs with a tickle down my chest. I cry out but begin to breath with some focus. The pain isn't as harsh and I look at Ryan, who was glaring daggers at Burnie.

"I can take it." I tell him. His blue eyes snap to mine. "I can take the pain. Don't give in." Instead of a fierce look like Ryan would usually get when he knows he has time to work out a plan, he looks frantic and terrified; Maybe even a little pained. It confused me. I wasn't ready or focused anymore when the knife went deeper into my chest just above where my breast began. I called out with a small whimper. Again and again, Burnie asked Ryan why he was doing this to me and there would still be silence. The torturing went on long enough for all the men but Jack and Gavin to wake up and see what was happening. I had cuts and burns now from his lighter and even a smaller blowtorch than average. I was panting and sweating from the pain it gave me.

"Alright, stop!" Ryan yelled finally. Burnie picked up with weapons and turns to Ryan.

"What was that?" Ryan stays quiet and just glares at him. "Ah, so you are ready to tell me why this is happening?" Ryan mutters something and Burnie shakes his head. "That's not going to work, boy. Shout it."

"Because I..." His words trail into a mutter again.

"Do I really need to hurt her more?"

"I'll kill you if you touch her again!" He strangles against his bonds and Burns shakes his head.

"That is no way to act in this situation. Now. Repeat yourself. Louder for us to all here." Ryan glares at the man while I watch with pure interest.

"Because I love her, alright?" My heart stops for a moment as I stare at Ryan.

"Correct! And you know who else was once in love?"

"You and-"

"Me and Ashley!" Burnie shouts. "Now you know how it feels to hurt the ones you love!" There's a long pause before Burnie curses and slams the knife into the concrete pillar holding Ryan. "If she was here..."

"She wouldn't let you do this." I tell Burnie. "I remember her. She was sweet and she never looked down on you." His shoulders shake and his breathing gets unsteady and heavier. "Let me go and we leave you be. Maybe I can talk to Ashley about what happened that day and you guys can try again." Burnie looks over his shoulder at me.

"I'm a crew leader, Diane, you think I'm gonna let you go that easy?" I shrug and shake my head.

"No, but it was honesty and I thought that's something criminals could always respect." It was true and it was something all criminals almost always abide to. Honesty was loyalty in a criminals eyes and it's something they always looked for. Burnie ponders on my words for a moment before groaning in annoyance and coming over, releasing me from the ropes that were around my wrists. I'm sure that he expected me to swing at him or something but I made a promise. I was going to keep it. I undid Ryan and the rest of them just in time for the Brit and my brother to wake up. After a lot of talking down I got everyone to back off and leave Burnie alone while I kept my promise. After all, at one point, our crews were family. I glanced at Ryan and saw him shifting and trying to keep his hands in his pockets. I wandered over to him as the crew walked towards the van and slipped my hand into his jacket pocket, locking my fingers with his. The action caused him to jump at my touch but when I gave him a small smile, his fingers tangled deeper with mine.


	12. Twelve

"Jack!" I scream on the top of my lungs as everyone but my brother pull me away from the burning apartment building. "No, let go! I have to see if-"

"Diane!" Geoff grabs my shoulders and blocks my view of the flames coming from inside the room Jack once occupied with his Great Dane Arthur. I cried heavily onto Geoff's chest, slapping him away from me when he tried to hug me. "Please..." He whispers. "You're making this harder than it shoulder be!" I shake my head and yank from Gavin's grip only to have Jeremy grab my arm to hold me in place. I scream out and can't hold back the sobs that escaped me. My knees went weak and fire alarms screamed along with firemen and wailing firetrucks. I fell to the ground in order for the men to release me fully and curled up against myself. This all wasn't real. It couldn't be... My brother- burned up from a rival attack. I clutched tightly to my leather jacket, holding it so tightly to myself I am sure it was stretching and wrinkling in my grasp.

"We need to go." I hear Michael say. I shake my head. I wasn't okay to go anywhere. I didn't want to be without my brother. I didn't want to be alone. I feel hands on me again, but instead of letting them pick me up I scrape my knees against the pavement to get away from them and fall forwards, standing and bolting to the building.

"Diane!" I hear them all calling for me but I keep running. I push past the firemen and weave through the police now chasing me. I make it inside the building and dash up the stairs. Smoke clouded the whole building and I immediately began hacking and coughing. The heat becomes more and more intense as I make my way up the floors. Firemen were floors above me at the site of the fire. I make it to the top and see the flames in person. I cough into my sleeve and squint at the flames and smoke. The firemen were too focused on the fire to notice me thankfully. I watch with terror as I see a crisp corpse being pulled from the flames. No... I collapse to the ground from the smoke I was inhaling at dangerous levels and the image of my brother burned to death. I crawl towards the body but am quickly pulled away by a spare man fighting the fire.

"Get her out of here!" The chief yells to the man who was holding me. The fireman nods and begins to drag me down the steps and outside the building. I see the crew arguing with the police dangerously- with them being high class criminals and all- until they see me being carried out. I was weak. Way too weak to argue for sure. The man puts a mask on my mouth to help circulate clean air into my lungs while the men rush to me.

"You idiot!" Geoff says immediately.

"Geoff..." Jeremy whispers.

"No, Jeremy, she's a god damn fool!" Geoff says, red faced. "She just ran in there, thinking it was okay-"

"I saw him." I whisper before coughing slightly. Ryan presses the mask to my face carefully and I allow it to stay. The men are quiet. Geoff just shakes his head and walks away with Michael and Gavin. Jeremy and Ryan stay behind.

"Was it really him?" Jeremy asks.

"I couldn't get close enough to tell. It was a pretty charred body..." I pull the mask from me, able to breathe well now. Both of them are silent again. Jeremy walks away to join the others by their cars while Ryan stayed with me.

"If we would have lost you..." He trails. I look at him slowly. "You know what you mean to this crew right? Well that just got a hell of a lot deeper in meaning. You're Jack's sister and he died." Ryan pauses. "You're gonna need us and we're gonna need you." I just stayed quiet, unsure of what to say or do with myself. He shakes his head and walks away to follow the others while I just sat in shame and despair.

-

Burnie, Ashley and Jon all stood in front of me. I spoke to Ashley last week about Burnie and now they were working things out. Burnie claimed he owed us. I was taking him up on that offer.

"You want me to do what?"

"I want you to-"

"Don't repeat, I heard you..." He stares at me for quite some time. "Diane-"

"Oh come on, Burns!"

"It's not that easy, Diane." Jon inputs. I turn to him. "You are asking a lot from us, but mainly Burnie."

"Well I am wanting to return my favor." I claim. The three are silent as Burnie paces slightly.

"Maybe you should do it." Ashley looks at me the whole time but means for her words to be aimed to Burnie.

"You can't be serious, Ash."

"She's grieving, Burnie, do it for her. How much has she done for us?" She defends. I look at the intense stare the couple gave before Burnie groaned.

"You are so lucky Ashley is here." He grumbles. He digs out his cell phone and dials up a number. "Hey. I know, but I got a favor. Would ya just shut up and listen, Hullum?" There's a slight pause. "I need you to get someone outta town. ASAP. No, nothing like that, it's uh..." Burnie glances over at me. "It's a friend who's running." I glared at Burnie when he used running as my reasoning even though it was right. I was running. Ashley and Jon watched me as if I was going to break down but I've done my crying. Three long and terrible days of it. Moments pass before Burnie hangs up the phone and shoves the device back in his pocket. "I'm betraying the whole Fake AH Crew, you know that right?" He mutters while staring at me strictly. I nod and he shakes his head. "Lunatic..."

"When do I leave?"

"Hullum said one A.M. sharp. Don't be late and stay to the right of the pier. Take only the essentials. He said where you're going will cover for the rest." I nodded and hugged tightly to Burnie with slight relief.

"Thank you, Burns..."

"Yeah yeah." He pushes me off and throws and arm around Ashley. "Be safe, kid." I nod again and walk from the three towards my car. I was gonna miss that purple vehicle... I gave Caiti Thelma and Louise. I figured she needed them more than me after today. She was absolutely devastated. It hurt me to let them go but I knew she would want company other than me. I clutched onto the steering wheel and drove from the east side of town to the west. I didn't stop at anyone's place to say goodbye. I didn't call or text anyone. I just got to my home and started to pack. As I did, I felt guilty. Maybe I shouldn't leave... The guys all have been coming to check on me, but not today. Not this morning and not tonight. They must have felt it- me wanting to leave. Were they letting me? Geoff wasn't drinking anymore. Gavin never spoke. I haven't heard Michael laugh. Jeremy doesn't make jokes. Ryan... He doesn't wear his mask. The crew wasn't the crew without Jack. I wasn't me without Jack. I stopped eating. I was delusional most of the time without sleep. I don't leave the house. I haven't really spoken to anyone since that night; They try but I haven't kept a conversation. I finish packing and head towards the door to place my stuff beside it. I can hear rain beginning to patter outsude. it was almost as if I left the door or a window open. That's when I notice Ryan standing there with the door wide open and rain splashing the road behind him. It left splattered tear drops on his jacket and shirt while he stared at me, panting.

"Ryan?"

"Where do you expect to go, Diane?" He questions. I clear my throat and shrug.

"Wherever Hullum takes me."

"Oh, I think you mean Haywood takes you." I am about to ask what he meant until it clicked.

"God dammit, Burns!" I grunt and slam my stuff onto the floor. I go closer to Ryan. "What do I do then, huh?" My voice began to quake and my hands were clenched into fists. "Do I just sit here and sit with my hands under my ass, run, hide, or stay?"

"You fucking fight!" I stare at him. The rain gets heavier outside. "You act like you're alone but you're not! You have all of us!" His voice raises and I can see the mixed emotions in his expressions and eyes. "I love you, Diane and you act like that means nothing. Do you know how hard that is for me to say? Or how dumb I feel saying it when you fucking up and leave as if it means nothing?" I walk closer to him with white knuckles.

"What do you want me to do?"

"I want you to prove that you aren't lying when you say you love me, too." As if on cue, lightning strikes and crackles after his words. The mood shifts and instead of just tense yelling, there's a different tension. I press my lips to his firmly and hold on the sides of his face. It takes him a moment to react before his hands catch my hair and neck tightly. We are smashed against each other and I still feel like we aren't close enough. My skin gets hot along with his own to where we were burning from one another's touch. Ryan pulls the door closed behind him and spins to press me onto it. I wrap my legs around his thighs until he lifts me with my as in his hands to be around his waist instead. His mouth slips from mine and finds its way down my neck and nips at my collarbones. Every bite, lick, and kiss sent my body tingling to the point I couldn't contain myself. I let myself go and yanked his head back to mine before forcing a kiss onto him. I climbed off of his hips before breaking the kiss to lead him towards the bedroom. When I was away from him I missed the feeling of his excitement on my inner thigh. Without saying any words we just stand there, slowly undressing each other in front of my bed. I smile at every touch and kiss before we finally get ourselves comfortable and positioned on my mattress. My heartbeat was in my ears but I didn't care. I clawed into Ryan and his back when he mouth encircled my breast and nipped it before flicking it with his tongue. His fingers squeezed it roughly while his mouth found the other breast. I gasped and squirmed while his hands and mouth explored my body. Finally, I feel his bare self against my thigh.

"Are you sure?" He asks lightly in my ear. I nod quickly with a heavy breath.

"I love you." I reassure him. He repeats the affectionate sentence before easing himself into me with small thrusts and then one large one to fully enter me. I was unsure of where to put my hands for quite some time.I finally rest them above my head to give him affectionate better view of my overall body. His eyes devoured the sight of me quickly before he trusted deeply. I moaned at the deep pounding I felt near my stomach with a few gasps here and there. The feeling was amazing... I feel him pull out of me after a minute more of thrusts and grunts. I am flipped onto my stomach and his hands firmly grasp my hips while he takes no time to enter me again. This time he slams into me using his hands as help. I am pressed firmly against his hips and while he thrusts over and did over until I can't take it anymore; I scream out his name and his cock is buried inside me as he cums after me. He collapses onto my back before leaning up to my ear.

"I love it when you scream my name." I pant with him and smile at his words.

"I thought you would." He chuckles deeply and lifts himself up and out of me. I sit up and we both begin to grab our clothes from the floor. Once my underwear and bra are on again I go to the closet for pajamas. I slide open the door and rummage through the clothes until Ryan speaks up.

"You kept it?" He questions. I turn and look at him to see his arm stretched out for his old jacket.

"Oh... Yeah." I answer. "I uh... I never let go of it even during our little fight." His smile was soft but it was there. "Don't you dare say-"

"That's adorable." I roll my eyes and grab the pajamas I found. My body froze when I realized they were the ones Jack had bought me for my birthday two years ago. They had little gold stars with a black background. I feel Ryan's arms go around me.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He whispers. I shake my head and just spin into his hold, pressing my body against his naked chest. He doesn't say another word but holds me tightly. I didn't want to talk about it ever. I didn't want to speak of my dead brother nor did I want to think of him. I was alone when it came to family. All I knew was this gang of messed up, serial killer, crime lords was all I had left.


	13. Thirteen

When you want to run because you're scared it's hard to leave behind the people who love you. Especially when you don't see how much they do. Ryan proved to me that Jack wasn't the only one who loved me. Hell, the whole crew did. Jeremy said he trusted me with everything he had: Kat. Geoff was pretty much the dad of the crew meaning he was mine, too. Michael and Gavin were like my brothers and Ryan, well, that's obvious. I couldn't leave anyone behind. At least, not easily. That's why I had to leave when they expected me to stay. When Ryan and I had sex he expected that to be enough to get me to stay. So I did... For a few days. Now, though, I was relaxing in a shifty neighborhood's storage lot. I was flipping through an old magazine for the fifth time on a stranger's couch. The lock-up was dim and full of boxes with pictures of people I didn't know and crappy belongings that mean nothing to me. This couch was shredded by what look like cats clawing on it for years. The door to the storage shook and I quickly dove off the furniture and to the corner of the room. I ducked behind boxes and waited for the door to open. When it did, I peeked from behind the cardboard corners. A man strolled in dressed in casual clothing, but he wasn't the owner of the lot or the storage room. He had orange hair that had slight brown in it. All I could see was his back. He walks to the couch and inspects the magazine I left in panic before touching the couch gently.

"I know you're in here." That voice... "The couch is still warm." The man still didn't turn. His hair was shaggy but short. I squinted to try and get a better look. When he wasn't turning my direction I slowly made a move to get out from the corner. I successfully did just before he turns to face me. My body freezes and my heart clenches tight.

"Jack..." I whisper, breathless. My brother smiles lightly and nods his head.

"Hi, D-" I dive onto him and begin to sob into his chest and shoulder. When I do this for a good minute I pull back and slap him hard.

"What the actual fuck?" I yell. "Why didn't you tell us you were alive you asshole?"

"D, I know you're mad, but hear me out." I stay quiet and impatiently wait for him to speak more. "I couldn't tell you guys because if the rivals who tried to kill me got any word I was alive I wouldn't be right now." He had a point. "I knew the place was rigged so I got Arthur and myself outta there before it blew. I left behind a not-so-lucky guy in the apartment." The explained the corpse.

"Who was the guy?"

"He was part of another gang. His name was Craig." I nodded and stared at Jack. My brother is alive and right here with me. I don't think I could be happier. "Why did you leave?" There's the question. The one I was meant to face later on when the crew found me or ran into me.

"I couldn't take it."

"They needed you and you needed them, Diane."

"They didn't need me. They just wanted to protect me because that was always your top priority." I was half lying to myself but also half saying how I felt. I wanted to believe they didn't need me. That I was just an extra. 

"Come home. Everything is a mess." I bite my lip and Jack sighs heavily. "Lindsay is pregnant and she wants you there when the baby is born. Whether or not it's in nine months or now..." I glance up at Jack.

"Lindsay is fucking pregnant?"

"Yep. Nine weeks." I hold my breath and stare at him. "So are you coming home or not?" I thought about it for a long moment. I wanted to see my friends but then again, were the still my friends? After what I did I was scared to face them.

"I can't..."

"They won't judge you for leaving, Diane." He says, knowing exactly what I meant. "They were upset that you left after everything we all have been through together and they just went through a death you all understood each other about. You really think that they would betray you after something like that?" I bit the inside of my cheek nervously. "Just come home. If you want to leave, fine, I'll help you leave. I promise." I take a deep breath and think on the offer. It was tempting, but also seemed like he knew I was going to try it. Fuck it.

-

I stared at the white, run down house I once occupied. It's been a good week and a half since I stepped foot in this place. I didn't think I'd be back honestly. Jack placed a hand on my shoulder and squeezes it.

"They have started to stay here again because of everything that happened. They wanted something back the way it was. At least, that's how Jeremy put it." He explains. I nod in understanding and begin to walk forwards. Jack stops me quickly. "Let me go in first. Then you can stand behind me so if you are too scared you have time to back out." I nod and follow his lead to the door. Jack walks right in without a knock while I stand off to the side, hidden by the outside wall. Jack leaves the door wide open for me to hear the conversation.

"Did you find her?" I hear Michael ask.

"I uh... I did."

"And?" There's a slight pause.

"I don't think she intends to come back..." The crew is quiet for a moment before Geoff speaks up.

"Who the fuck does she think she is?"

"Geoff-"

"Jack, I know she's your sister but seriously?" It wasn't judgement in Geoff's tone but pain and anger. I don't blame him. I'm mad at myself just as much. "She played us all. Maybe it's a good thing she's gone." There's a sudden slam on what sounds like the counter top. It is followed by a long period of silence.

"Ryan, I'm sorry." Jack whispers. "She just-"

"I get it." Ryan replies. "She doesn't want to come back." I could feel my heart breaking into a million pieces and each piece reaching for Ryan as he spoke. "Maybe I'm just the dumb one here and not Gavin."

"Aye!" The Brit squawks at the remark but no one laughs. "Just because the dame left doesn't mean you're dumb."

"I fell for her tricks, Gav, I am dumb." I tricked him? Of course, I'm sure it looks that way. "I'm going home. I'll see you guys tomorrow maybe."

"You've been drinking." Jeremy inputs. "Call a cab at least."

"Whatever." There's heavy footsteps towards the door and I press myself onto the wall. Thankfully Ryan turns enough for me to not be seen. He slams the door shut and I watch him walk in a jagged line towards his car. I roll my eyes and follow him quietly and quickly. He steps into the car and I jump to the passenger's side, slipping in. I don't look at him. I'm sure he was staring at me. I could feel the tension in the car so I didn't even have to guess.

"Call a cab." I whisper.

"So now you care?" Here we go. "Since when? Was it after you left or after Jack found you?" I can feel my chest and throat tighten. I wasn't going to cry. I was done being a little bitch. "Get out of my car."

"Call a fucking cab!" I yell, looking to him. "I never stopped caring and you fucking very well know that, you prick!" He stares at me coldly. "I didn't trick nor use you, Ryan. I never would. You know exactly how I feel about that shit."

"Then why did you leave?" He shouts.

"Because I was terrified and no matter how much people said they were with me I felt alone! Do you know how that feels? To be in a crowd of people and still feel alone?"

"I'm a fucking serial killer, Diane. I live that feeling every single day." He replies with gritted teeth. "I..." His sigh was heavy and he made it obvious he was feeling mixed emotions. "I'm glad you're safe."

"Yeah..." I mutter, rubbing my arms in awkwardness.

"Why did you come back?" The question was simple.

"Because I realized I was an idiot with people who loved me." His stare stayed on my own and I couldn't help the smile that attacked my face. I grab the hem of Ryan's mask and slowly pulled it up to reveal his beautiful face. The stubble that wasn't there when I left, the red in his cheeks from the alcohol... His lips that were a beautiful shade of pink and tan mixed. The best part? His eyes. Even though the mask showed those blue daydreams all the time it was always a different shade to gloss his eyes when it was removed. When he wore the mask his eyes seemed dark- as if they were fearing the light that was held in them. When I removed the rubber object I could see all his life in those irises. I cupped his face into my hands and smiled small. "I love you, James." He lets a small smile loosely fall onto his lips and he leans in to kiss me. When he pulls back the smile is softer.

"I love you, too, Diane." There's a small pause as we both just sit there and listen to the rain pounding on the car's roof. "There's a heist tomorrow..." He whispers.

"Big take?"

"Uh, yeah..." He seemed off put. "D, I was gonna kill them. All of them." My gut twisted and I stared at him. "I'm messed up. I have a personality disorder and I want to kill my friends. I need help."

"Hey, Ryan, look at me." When he glances to me slowly I can see the pain in his eyes. "You know you were only wanting to. You wouldn't do it. You can't. These men are your family. They love you."

"Well I wasn't sure anyone did when you-" He cuts off and shakes his head. "I'm sorry I'm just still pissed."

"You have every right to be." I declare. "I left after making everything feel okay."

"But that's the thing- you came back. So why am I still mad?" I stayed quiet as he rested his head against the steering wheel. "It's bad enough that this life is dangerous but us being together and trying to make it work is so fucking complicated. I..." Don't say it. Please don't say it. "I think we should stop this." There it is. I knew it was something we needed to do but that doesn't mean I want to.

"Okay." I say weakly. "I understand." There was a silence between us again.

"Can I tell you something, Diane?" I nod.

"Of course."

"When we celebrated Gavin's heist being a success and we all got too drunk, I held your hair back when you puked your guts out. I don't know if you remember that night but you looked over your shoulder for just a split second and smiled small. In that moment I was completely sober and I was angry because right then I knew I was in love with you. I was angry because you made me love you so quickly and I knew I couldn't go through all this with you." There was a mix of emotions filling the air and that included mine. I wanted to cry and scream but I also wanted to be completely quiet and just sit on the couch in a blanket while staring at the blank television screen. "I never told you because I didn't want you to get hurt or for me to be the cause of it."

"Ryan, I get it, but you can't tell me this shit right after you say you don't want to do this anymore!"

"Well I'm sorry but I felt like I needed to!"

"What happened to 'Badass Ryan who never tells how he feels and breaks girls' hearts'?"

"He isn't here right now, sorry." His voice was full of sourness and venom. I grunt and with a quick movement step out of the car. I should never have come back. I run to the house and walk in without knocking. After all I was my house still. All the men stared at me in shock, including Jack. I'm sure I was soaked with rain from the talk with Ryan and me not making a big move towards the house. I was annoyed, sad, and everything I could think of emotionally right now.

"Diane..." Geoff whispers. He stands and immediately pulls me into a hug. "Where the fuck have you been?" I hug him back immediately and begin to whimper. This causes Jack to stand and come to me also. I cry heavily in Geoff's arms. He was like my big brother sometimes and at other times my father. He was one of my best friends. He let me do as I pleased and just held me. He would shush me every now and then before I finally stopped. When I pulled back I could feel my face changing back to normal and the heat leaving from the intense crying. I sniffled and glanced out the window.

"I'm sorry..."

"For what?" Jack asks.

"For leaving, for crying like this, for everything." I tell them. I wipe at my eyes and nose. "I'm a horrible person and all I do is cause drama. I'm sorry." I was about to cry again when Michael punched me in the shoulder.

"Don't be stupid, LP, we forgive you." He replies. I look at everyone who seems to agree.

"Jack told us you were outside. We were just waiting for the answer." Jeremy tells me. I knew what he meant by 'the answer' and nodded. "Did you talk to uh..." He points towards the door as I hear tires squealing. I cleared my throat and nodded.

"He called us off and I guess now he's just done." I wouldn't dare tell them anything else. It was too dangerous or personal for everyone to know. "I'm going to bed. I haven't slept well since I left..." I wave them off before another word can be said. When I get into my bedroom I see all my stuff exactly how I left it. Even Ryan's old jacket hanging in the closet. It wasn't until I shimmied off my jacket onto the bed that I realized I still had Ryan's mask in my jacket's inside pocket. I put it there when we got more serious into talking. I intended on returning it but... I ignored my memories and thoughts as I slammed myself onto my bed. Then an idea comes to my head. The heist tomorrow. I hop out of bed and look out my door to see Jeremy and Michael sitting at the counter behind Jack and Gavin. Geoff must have went to chase down Ryan. I sneak over and grab both Michael and Jeremy, They don't make any noise of protest when I shush them silently and point to the two who were playing video games on the couch. They follow me to my bedroom and I quietly shut the door.

"What's up?" Jeremy questions.

"Take me with you guys tomorrow."

"What? Are you crazy?" Michael almost raises his voice. "Geoff will kill all three of us."

"Not even if I am a distraction?" I ask. They look at me with confusion. I grab the mask and old jacket from the closet.

"You still have that?" Jeremy asks with a small chuckle. I glare at him and he stops laughing to nod. I continue my idea and pull on the jacket, zipping it up. I tuck my hair back and pull on the mask next. I then grabbed some dark jeans I had out for tomorrow and go to the pile of shoes I owned. I pulled out dark sneakers and tugged on the full outfit. I opened my arms and the men looked at each other and then to me.

"You're a little short, D."

"Am I though?" I straighten up and stand next to Michael. I was now his height. "Well close enough, right?"

"Why not test it out?" Jeremy asks Michael. "Have her sneak out the back and come in through the front?" I nod and look at Michael.

"I'll make a deal with you guys." Jeremy looks at me now. "If I trick the guys for more than a minute I come tomorrow. That's all I'll need. If I don't you guys can handcuff me to the barstool in the kitchen until you get back from the heist- and you will get back." The two glance at one another. They finally nod and we all shake hands. I take Jeremy's suggestion and sneak out of my room to the back door. I exit and make my way to the front. I let myself get soaked so it looks like I've been outside for quite some time. That's a Ryan thing to do. I then proceed to just barge in. I knew Ryan well. I better be able to pull this off. Jack and Gavin look over their shoulders while Jeremy and Michael have returned to their previous seats. They didn't say a word but played along by staring at me.

"Ryan?" Gavin asks. "Geoff went to look for you." Shit... I can't talk. I just shrug and go to the liquor cabinet. The clock on the stove read six twenty-six and flicks over not even two seconds after I check.

"Don't you think six shots were enough?" Jack asks, standing from the couch. I just shake my head.

"Dude, come on." Jeremy says with a light sigh. Michael was turned to face me and I could see the smirk as he points to his eyes. Shit. My eyes are green, not blue. I can't let them see my eyes. I turn away from everyone and pour a glass of whiskey for myself. I then go to the freezer and pull out the ice tray like Ryan always does. I plop in three cubes of ice. No more or less. It's his pet peeve. He can't have any more or less. I gathered myself when I thought of Ryan and placed the tray back into the freezer. I lifted the chin of the mask and downed half the glass.

"Ryan, look, we know you're upset but you can't just barge in and drink a half glass of whiskey." Jack says, clearly annoyed. "After all, it's my sister's fucking house." I groan deeply and shake my head, slamming my fist on the counter. The men stay quiet. "Will you just talk to us?" I stay quiet. I don't turn to them. I see the clock on the stove flick from six twenty-seven to the next minute. That's it. I can fuck up now. The bet it over. I spin to face them and stare coldly at everyone.

"What's gotten into you?" Michael asks, trying to stifle a laugh. "Was it Diane?" I nod my head.

"Watch what you say about her, Ryan." Jeremy warns. I couldn't help but roll my eyes. He was trying to crack me.

"What did she do?" Gavin asks. I shake my head and walk towards the door. Suddenly I am slammed into the door and close my eyes from the sudden hit. When I open them it's Jack who slammed me into the door.

"You hurt her, you know that?" When he stares into my eyes something switches in him. "Wait-"

"She won." Michael says with a huff. "Didn't think she would." Jack rips off the skull mask with a look of disbelief on his face.

"How did you- Why did- What?" He was utterly confused while Jeremy and Michael just shrugged and sipped on their drinks.

"She won... She gets to come tomorrow on the heist."

"Like hell!"

"I won a bet Jack. You know what happens in a bet or deal needs to be true." He stays silent and groans.

"Geoff will murder us all."


	14. Fourteen

Geoff for one was the opposite of everything we thought. He was excited to see me in action now that he knows I'm serious and that I actually tricked Jack. Gavin is gullible but Jack was hard to trick all the time. Speaking of my brother, he was more than against me going. He knew a deal was a deal and I didn't lose so I needed to go through with it. Michael and Jeremy were not hearing the end of it from Jack about making deals or bets with me. Gavin was confused and Ryan didn't say anything about it. In fact, he hadn't said anything at all. He had his mask returned to him and Geoff had brought me another one. Now there were two vagabonds ready for action.

"Okay, you guys know the plan?" All of us reply positively in different ways to Geoff's question. "Okay, so LP and Vagabond will be on two separate teams for obvious reasons. LP," Geoff looks to me. "you okay with everything still?" I nod. "Good. Go with Jeremy and Gavin. Keep those dumbasses in check. Big V will be with Jack. I'll be with Michael. Any questions?" We all keep quiet. "Good. Get into positions." I go with Gavin and Jeremy. The ear pieces are firmly pressed into our ears when we all get inside the purple and orange truck Jeremy brought.

"Checking in on headsets." I say, pressing the earpiece. "Come in Lil J." Jeremy nods with a thumbs up. "Vav?" Another nod. "Lazer?"

"Check." Geoff replies.

"Mogar?"

"Got it." Michael says with a huff.

"Big P?" I smirk when Jack sighs into his earpiece.

"Not my codename." I move on to the last one.

"Vagabond?" Silence. "You hear me Vagabond?"

"He hears you, he's just grumpy." Jack replies. I could hear Ryan protest through Jack's mic and roll my eyes. We roll up to the first store. It's a jewelry shop so we had to be cautious. Jeremy wore a troll's mask while Gavin wore an Eagle. I just wore the vagabond skull like I was supposed to. I press on my ear.

"Team Diamond in place."

"So is Team Copter." Michael replies.

"Team Attack almost is." Jack replies. We wait for about five minutes until Jack finally replies back with a position report. When we are all in out places us three get out from the car and grab our bags, running inside after shooting both guards at the door. Once inside the alarms ring. I turn to zip-tie the doors together once they are I help Jeremy and Gavin in the robbing process. The plan was to not kill any employees but when they began to fire on us with the handhelds behind the counter we had to fire back. Franklin and Michael ruined this one for us when they first hit them. I smash the cases and stuff jewels are such into my bag while Gavin took from the registers. I could hear sirens wailing outside. The doors were now reinforced after the last robbery so that was a plus for us. Jeremy helped me with the breaking of cases and taking Jewels. Gavin finally came back after a small explosion of C4 on what I presume was the safe in the office. I smirked at the excitement and thrill this heist was giving me. I could hear banging on the store's doors along with pelting of bullets.

"Time to go!" I yell. The two men follow me as we rush up the stairs to the escape door on the next floor. I heard a cop's helicopter right by the door and a rope ladder flops down in front of us. I look up to see Geoff in his white and black suit with a pink mask on. Michael was flying the helicopter with a hockey mask and body armor. We all three make it up to the chopper before I hear explosions. I look over from inside the helicopter and see Ryan and Jack on the ground. Ryan had his focus on the cops while Jack seemed all over the place. He would look up to us and then the cops and then to Ryan. He was too scared of me getting hurt. I put my finger to my ear. "We're safe, brother. Get out of there!" I yell. Michael pulls away from the building and the rope ladder comes up as all three of us sit in the back with Geoff in the front seat next to Michael. Down below were swat vans and I swallowed hard. Ryan was still killing cops while Jack was running to his armored vehicle. This was it. This is the big heist. The five star heist that we all need to live to see. When no one replies to me I groan and put my finger to my ear again. "God dammit, tell me you are out of that place!" Still no reply. I go to Michael and Geoff. "Let me out." I tell them. "I'll leave my bag, let me out." Before protest I am already throwing down the ladder. Michael stops the chopper and I slide down the rope, thankful for my gloves right now. The impact on the ground shocks my legs and cracks my knees, but I stand and run to them through backroads and alleys.

"God dammit, she's coming for you, guys!" I hear Geoff yelling into the earpiece. I roll my eyes and keep going, ducking from cops when I can. I see Ryan and Jack both ducking for cover about a block from me and when I see the time is right, I run to the street.

"I'm over here, fuckers!" I yell while firing into the crowd of police. The looks on their faces are priceless. At the rate they might think Ryan is a superhuman. I duck behind an abandoned police car and look up to see Jack and Ryan are no longer their focus. Just me. I take a deep breath. If I die today I am going to accept it. I am going to have to. I won the deal. I guess I lost it, too. Bullets whip past me and ding into the car. I could feel them getting closer to my back as they went through the steel/aluminum doors. This was it. I was gonna die here."

"We're safe!" Jack yells into the ear piece. "Get her out of there, guys!"

"We can't, she's swamped!" Gavin replies.

"There's four of you!"

"Just get the loot to the safe house!" I yell in annoyance. Tears come to my eyes as I take a shaking breath. "I'll see you guys there." I say with a deep hope in my words. The earpieces go silent and I fire off over the side of the car. I hit a big group but it's not enough. More keep coming in. I put my head back against the car and lay my gun on the ground. This was it. They were safe and out of the way. This was meant for me to do. I was here to protect them. There's a load roar before a crashing sound and screams for help. I look over my shoulder and see Jeremy's monster truck smashing cops into cars or just running them over entirely. I felt disgusted by the scene but also slightly relieved. I get the wind knocked out of me quickly when an arm comes from no where and I am swiped onto the back of a motorcycle while I see Ryan in the front seat firing off on cops before speeding out of the area. I can't speak for two reasons. One, I was in shock, and two, I hadn't gotten back my breath. When I finally did regain my words we were parked by the garage Ryan owned on the other side of town. "Are you hurt?" I ask immediately. Instead of replying he just stares at me.

"How could you be so uncaring? So wreckless- no, so dumb!" I just stared at him, dumbfounded. "You were supposed to get to the safe house and get there safe." I roll my eyes and try to speak but my mask was muffling my words. I rip off the rubber object and toss it to the side. It hits the dirt with a small puff of dust to follow it.

"You guys were supposed to get out of there when we were out of the building. No, you guys had to fucking stay behind!" I watched as Ryan removed his mask also, but he tucked it into his jacket pocket. I watched as he ran a hand through his hair.

"You were supposed to be safe, Diane. That was an important part of this whole thing."

"It wasn't just me out there!" I yell. He stares at me for quite some time. "You guys, no matter how you see or treat me, I will always love you all. Especially when you guys let me in on something this big."

"Technically, you won a bet." He points out. "We wouldn't have let you do anything like this."

"Geoff would have."

"But Jack wouldn't have."

"You know he would now."

"Well then I wouldn't of!" I arch an eyebrow and cross my arms. I am about to argue more when sirens get closer to the garage. Ryan grunts and grabs his bike while I pick up my mask. We make it into the garage and he flicks on the light when the garage door closes. The sirens wail past us and I turn back to Ryan.

"What makes you think you have control over what I do for this crew?" I ask, angered still. "You don't own me!"

"Because you're a fucking idiot you think it's okay for all of us to watch you die for us? Like it was nothing to do in the first place? Do you really think you don't matter to us?" I shake my head.

"I know I matter but-"

"Then fucking act like it!" He was panting now and he settled the bike in a parking space beside his other escape cars. I roll my eyes and walk towards the garage door. "Where do you think you're going?" I ignore him. "Should have known you would run from your problems..." I stop and spin towards him. I don't say a word. I march up to him and punch him square in the jaw. He stumbles back and I have tears in my eyes now from both anger and pain. Not emotional pain, but physical because that fucking hurt my hand.

"You asshole! You claim you understand what I mean but then you do this shit and start saying that it's my fault for everything it seems!" I yell. I grab my hair with one hand and groan with annoyance and me trying not to scream. "I've known you for about a year now. I have you down to a fucking T! You like to surprise me. You like three cubes of ice in your drink; It has to be exactly three! You trust me to keep your secrets even when we aren't together. You slump your shoulders when you feel threatened so that you're relaxed. You secretly love Eskimo kisses because you think it's fun and strange. You eat your steak with your hands because you don't have the patience for steak. Your mom died in an accident and your dad joined a gang. He raised you in the gang. When he died you left to get away from it. You had a dog named Sadie that was killed protecting you. Your first girlfriend cheated on you. You would never tell anyone but you like ugly Christmas sweaters. The list goes on and on, Ryan."

"What's your point?"

"The point is that even after everything we went through together and how intense our fights get I will always remember these things!" I could hear honking and a light patter of rain outside on the tin roof. He stays quiet. "I guess that I'm just someone who doesn't care though, right?" I laugh coldly and sniff, shaking my head. "I should have never came back. Jack offered me help to leave. I'm gonna take it." I turn towards the garage door again and don't hear any word of protest from Ryan. It was probably better that way anyways...

-

It was two days after the heist. I have been hiding off in my house, not wanting to do anything. The money we got from the jewels came through. A good six-hundred grand went to me and Geoff while the others got five-hundred. Let me explain that for you: Geoff appointed me as body guard, crew leader, and crew member all in one. It was an aspiring position to hold and honestly, I liked it. I went from helpless little sister to computer girl to two top spots and crew member. The men of course protested but Geoff did it anyways. Jack was nervous about my position, Jeremy was excited for me about it, Gavin and Michael complained about uneven cuts, and Ryan had no say as always. The order went from Geoff on top, Jack next, then Ryan, Michael, Jeremy, Gavin, and then me in strongest to Geoff, Me, Ryan, Jack, Michael, Jeremy, and Gavin. Michael, Jeremy, and Gavin all had the same rank but Ryan and Jack were Crew members and Body Guards. Everyone has convinced me to get an apartment now that I have the money but I still refused. After what happened to Jack's apartment I couldn't risk having my name on paper. I wasn't sure I was even going to stay either. Jack offered me help but now he was trying to go back on his promise. I haven't spoken to him since yesterday when he told me that bullshit. Caiti and I haven't talked since I left. She was still taking care of Thelma and Louise and Jack told me he lives with her now so Arthur is there, too. He plans to buy a new place for them with the money he made. I stare at the ceiling and think back to the events of the heist like I've been for the past two days. I could have died... What would have happened? Would they flip out as much as they did with Jack? Maybe they wouldn't have. Jack would have reacted like me I'm very sure but I don't think they would have flipped out like they did with him.

"Hey." It was Adam's voice by the door. He was over with Elyse, James, and Jess. They were hiding out while Bruce and Joel did a jump on one of the rival gangs.

"Yeah?" I ask, looking to him as he pushed through the door.

"Do you want us to go? You've been locked up in here all day."

"No it's fine. You guys can hang out here for as long as you need." I insist. Adam sighs lightly.

"Are you still trying to leave?" I stay quiet. "I may not follow your crew often but I still care about you, D." Adam and I rarely see each other but we were best friends for a reason. We were the type that could talk once a month and act like they never stopped talking.

"Give me a good reason I shouldn't leave."

"Your brother." I shake my head.

"He left us. That's not good enough."

"Because you have no where else to go."

"I have six hundred grand I think I'll be fine."

"God dammit I'm trying to prove a point here!" He says with frustration. I sit up on the bed.

"I am too." He stares at me for quite some time. He searches my eyes for a minute before speaking again.

"Because you'll be alone." My heart sinks. "You'll be scared and alone just like when you left the first time. You don't want that." I hang my head slightly.

"Being alone might be better for me."

"Was it after Jack died?" I'm silent. "Exactly. You don't want to be scared like that." I look away from him and to the closet. Ryan's jacket no longer hung within it. Instead my new one from my birthday did. Hanging out of the pocket was a mask. I didn't bring mine home...

"I'll think about it." I tell Adam just to attempt to make him leave the room. It worked in my favor and once the room is clear of him I stand to go to the closet. I pull the mask out of the jacket and inspect it. There were multiple tears and cuts into it and burns. This wasn't my mask. I clenched my fists around the rubber. What's this asshole trying to do? It's like he's giving me sentimental gifts but taking them back. I didn't understand; It was pissing me off. I go to the bed and get down the the ground, pulling out the old jacket I took from the closet and laid it on the bed next to the mask. I grab my cell and dial up Ryan. He would have changed it by now but it's his number for the gang to reach him.

"What?" He snaps.

"Oh yeah, what indeed!" I snap right back. "What the fuck are you trying to do, Haywood?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Your fucking mask."

"I thought that since you like to take my stuff I'll keep the new mask and give you the old one." He says with sarcasm. "You took it!" I furrow my brow.

"I did not!"

"Yes you did and the new one sucks!"

"I didn't take it, Ryan!"

"I did." There's a new voice and it's not on the phone. I spin towards it and see a man I recognized. "I took the mask and put it in your pocket."

"Who is that?" Ryan questions.

"Go on." The man says. "Tell him. I love hearing you fight." I stayed quiet.

"Diane!"

"Sounds like he's being demanding."

"Diane don't speak if you don't want to, I'm coming!" The phone clicks and he sighs.

"Thought that would work but take some more of my time. Oh well." The man says with a daring grin. "Guess death comes when it calls."

"What are you doing here, Newborne?" I ask with annoyance.

"Why, you didn't think that that asshole was the real boss, right?" His smirk was deep and hollowed like his laugh. "You sure are a fool. You always were, Diane." He lunges forwards to make me jump before laughing again. Two men file into my room always did grab each side of me.

"Hey!"

"Don't squirm." Newborne says. "It'll only make this process harder."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! First of, BIG THANKS for all the Kudos. Second, Longest. Chapter. Ever. Do you guys want more chapters like this length? If so it'll be longer times in between publications. Let me know!


	15. Fifteen

Being dragged to your own crew's warehouse is something I never experienced. When Burnie trapped me it was on their own turf. Newborne was annoying me to an extent I was sure I was ready to kill him at.

"Did you know that you can die from pain?" The man beside me asks. "You don't have to bleed out of even be killed by a major organ." I roll my eyes as he continues to speak. "You could be smashed between two cars and break your legs so badly you could die from the intense pain." He was sharing useless facts about death and killing people that it honestly wasn't even a fear tactic anymore but a lesson he was teaching. The car is in park and neither him nor myself have moved to exit the vehicle. "I want us to be friends, Diane, I truly do. Don't you remember what it was like to work with me?" I glare at him.

"This is a cliché," I claim, "you know, kidnapping the crew member's sister to bring him here, or even the girlfriend for that matter." He laughs lowly at me.

"I didn't kidnap you." He says with a small smile staying on his lips. "You willingly walked into my car."

"You forced me."

"Did I touch you?" I'm silent. "Did I ever threaten you?" Again, silence. "Exactly. So get off your high horse and come with me. I'd like to show you something." I couldn't fight him. He was right. It all looked like I wanted to go with him. After a stunt like me running off I wouldn't doubt that the crew didn't trust me to do it again. I follow Newborne from the car nonetheless. If I disobeyed it would not go in my favor more than likely. "They're coming, you know. The crew." I nod.

"No doubt."

"So why don't you sit tight and wait for them?"

"What about showing me something?" The man smirks devilishly and I roll my eyes. "Right, I will see it as you murder my friends and brother in front of me." Newborne frowns quickly and shakes his head.

"No, no. Not murder them." He straightens his face out once more. "Turn them against you is more in the matter."

"Good luck with that." He rolls his eyes and it's that one movement; That one small movement that I snap. He didn't care that I was under his thumb, being held hostage. I grabbed his throat and slammed him to the ground. My hand stayed there as a swift punch smashed into his nose. The man gasps for air and coughs before I realize what I did. He smiles and laughs harshly with what breath he could muster. I stand quickly.

"That's exactly what I needed..." I stared at him as the crew pulled into the echoing lot to see Newborne on the ground with a bloody nose and clutching his throat. From what I could see, Ryan wasn't with them. Of course... Why would he be?

"Diane!" I hold up my hands to them and there's blood still dripping from my knuckles on the left. Jack eyes Newborne. "Wait- Newborne?"

"Good to see you again, Pattillo..." He mutters, standing and coughing. "Your sister just attacked me for no good reason!" Their eyes flick to me, but Michael trains his to stay on Newborne.

"If LP did, she had a reason!"

"Tell them, Diane, what was your reason?" He questioned. I stared at him.

"D?" I look to Jack. "Why did you hurt him?" I was lost at words.

"Because he- Because I- He-"

"Diane." Geoff spoke now. "Did he hurt you?" I shake my head.

"Well, no-"

"Did he threaten you?"

"No."

"Then what was your reason?"

"He rolled his eyes at me and-"

"Are you serious?" Michael yells. "Are you five, D?" This was it. Newborne's plan. It was coming into play.

"I will accept an apology if you say one, Ms. Pattillo." I glare at Newborne. He looked like he was actually surprised from my attack.

"Why were you here, Mr. Newborne?" Gavin questions. I look at him with thankful eyes.

"I was offering Diane a job at the bar. Instead of kindly refusing, she punched me." That fucking liar. "She said she was looking for new work so I offered some!" I resist the giant urge to rip his head off then and there.

"New work?" Jeremy asks. "Diane?"

"I didn't say that!"

"Then why are you here with him?" Jack had raised his voice over mine at the end and I knew he was getting annoyed. "Are you wanting out? Because that's not gonna happen now that you're in."

"Jack, I'm not-"

"I thought this was a rescue mission, but it's just you being a child and trying to run again just like before!" My eyes grow wet and I blink to keep the tears in.

"No, it's not like that."

"Come on, guys, let's go." I watch the crew turn with annoyed facial expressions and shakes of their heads. None of them turned to give me a second glance. It was working. Newborne was actually getting his way. Once the van pulls out of the lot and out of sight, Newborne smiles wide.

"And there we have it. The crew isn't on your side and I now have proof that I didn't hurt you in any way." I groan and run a hand through my hair. I turn to him.

"Then there's nothing to stop me from doing this." I swing and land a heavy fist on his jaw but he barely moves. He retaliates and swings as hard as possible into my lower jaw on my right side. I arch an eyebrow. "Oh what, now you're tough?" I swing again and hit him so hard he flies backwards and off to the side. Wow... I didn't think I had it in me. As I go to him, though, I realize that I didn't have it in me. There was a spot in his lower hip that had a barb sticking out of it. It made a clicking noise before Newborne shook under it. I glanced around. This was weaponry I had seen before. It was too hard to come by for it to be from just anyone. "Ryan?" I whisper. When I look around I don't see Ryan anywhere. Newborne laughs lowly as tears come to his eyes.

"There he is... The man of the hour!" There's another shock that passes through his body. He shivers harshly at the impulse and I ignore his pain to look around once more. I finally spin to a point where I am met by eyes like the Tenerife sea. An arm slips around my hip and spins me behind the man who fired off the shock. "Glad to see you made it."

"Yeah well, glad to see you're not as planned ahead as you think." Ryan says with a muffled voice from the mask. "If you can't take a punch or two from Diane without reacting you'll get no where in life, Pal." I would usually be offended but with the whole crew thinking I was against them I had to be happy Ryan was on my side. He grabs Newborne's shirt collar and drags him into the warehouse where he slammed him to the ground again. Ryan doesn't dare to look at me during the whole time that he shocks, kicks, and punches the man.

"You say you can die from pain by itself, right Newborne?" I ask with an agitated pain in my jaw. The man eyes me. "Well now we get to see if it's just a myth." Ryan finally looks to me and I point at his knife. He hesitates at first and then finally hands me the sharp blade. I grab Newborne's hand. The men tries to fight but I can feel his muscles contract in my grasp from another controlled shock. He gives in and I put the blade against his skin, but I don't cut or break the skin quite yet. "Fun fact: You can still use your hand-" I stab the knife all the way through his palm to jut the blade out the other side of his hand. I then with a quick movement swipe up and completely split his hand like a Spock symbol. "-when it's cut like this." Newborne cries out as he rolls slightly on the ground. I watch blood gush from his open wound. I sigh and crouch down to eye level with the crying man. "You really thought I was an easy target? I grew up with shitheads like you controlling my life. I may not be good at torturing like the rest of the crew, but I am good at one thing: Killing. And you? You're an ant and I have a magnifying glass in my back pocket. So here's the deal- you are the one that slips away or the ant that gets burned to death. I'll give you ten seconds to choose." I stand and hand the bloody weapon to Ryan.

"A-and if I chose to live?" Newborne stutters from the pain in his body. "There's always a c-catch."

"So you aren't as dumb as you look! Okay, so the deal is that if you chose to live, you die. I won't tell you when, but it won't be today. Maybe tomorrow. Hell, maybe six years from now. But, you will die. If you are the ant, suspense over. What's the fun in that option, though?"

"What's the p-point if I die either way?"

"I'm giving you the chance to live life to the fullest like you should have before this whole incident, Newborne."

"Diane, why would you do that?" Ryan asks, grabbing me firmly by the arm. I turn to him with a long stare. He just sighs and lets go. "Alright, whatever." He knew exactly why I was giving this to him as an option.

"I chose to live." Newborne finally answers. I smirk and nod. I pull the electric barb from his leg and pull him to his feet. I remove my top shirt to reveal my tank top and wrap the linen around his cut hand.

"Oh, I should mention the rules." He glances to me as he tries to leave and stops in his tracks. "You try to kill me first, you will be cut short. Not only killed, but you will continue to live to be tortured until you die. I will not kill you myself, but the pain and starvation and thirst we cause will. Same goes for if you go for my crew." Newborne nods and I wave him off. The man disappears and I turn to Ryan. "Thanks for saving my ass." I say simply. The surprised look on his face makes me roll my eyes.

"Oh, no denial that I saved you or that we were literally just arguing before that bleached asshole showed up?" I snicker at his comment and shake my head. There's a small pause between us. "I promised you, D. I was always gonna protect you. Even if we were stabbing each other to death; unless I am the one doing the stabbing, I will protect you from anything."

"Yeah, okay, um... Let's get out of here. I got a crew to win back." I say, pushing away his words before I said something stupid. There was so much space between us. I wasn't sure if I was causing it, but it was an emotional gap I couldn't close. Not alone, anyways. I couldn't love him in the dark corner of his heart. I needed to be in the spotlight or else this was a waste of my time and his.

-

Thankfully, Ryan had told the crew the entire side of the story he knew and I filled in the middle with what really had happened. They knew something was off at the beginning but were blinded by Newborne's tactic. Jack had apologized for being a blind asshole as he called himself and I forgave him alone with the rest of the sorry crew.

"So what was the deal with you letting him go?" Geoff questions. I place my coffee on the table and nod in understanding of the question.

"It is a fun game for whenever I'm bored. I mean, I doubt you guys are gonna allow me on any certain mission or heist after all this bullshit. I'm gonna need something to entertain myself." He nods and looks at the crowd of men in the yacht with us. Michael, Gavin, and Jeremy were playing darts while Ryan and Jack were sitting back and drinking booze with satisfied look son their faces.

"We're lucky." I hear Geoff say softly. I knew he wasn't wanting the crew to hear him, but I did. I glance to him. "I mean, these people are my family outside of family. They seriously could be in some other crew killing us right now. I was so sure that they would have left by now but... We just keep gaining members."

"Well I was kind of born into it." I say with a small grin. Geoff chuckles and shrugs.

"I guess you can call it that." He replies. "In the same, though, you could have left or never even talked to your brother for his life choices. So why did you?" I furrow my eyebrows.

"He's family. Why wouldn't I talk to him? Blood is thicker than water."

"The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb." He says with a light sigh. "People forget what that whole quote is sometimes and it aggravates me. Just because your family doesn't mean shit, D. You could kill family." I stay quiet. I shrug with a subtle glance at Jack before my eyes go back to my coffee.

"I guess because he's all I have." I answer truthfully. "Our parents are dead, cousins don't think we exist anymore... Hell, everyone forgot about Jack back home... I guess that's a reason I still do it."

"But now you got us, LP." I smile at Geoff and nod before glancing at the other members surrounding us. My eyes land on Ryan's and I nod again before looking away to my cup.

"Yeah... Yeah I do." I drink from my ceramic mug and feel something switch in my head to make me say something that was now on it. "Why did you guys come to get me?" I question. "It could have been a simple trap, Ramsey. You guys would have went straight into it. I was okay by myself." Geoff sighs heavily.

"Now that you've ranked up like ten spaces-"

"Three."

"Whatever. Anyways, we can't exactly leave you alone. You're a top priority. Other crews know it, too." He explains. "If we lose you, our crew will become an easy target to everyone else. That includes the police force." I nod my head in understanding.

"Well why did you guys leave me to die?"

"Because Jack figured if you really wanted out you should go out the only way possible."

"Death..." I whisper. He stays quiet but I knew I was right. I keep my cup in my hands and stare at the warm liquid inside it. My whole life my parents tried to keep us from the bad sides of the neighborhood. Now, Jack and I are the bad side. We were always steered in a different direction. Maybe if we were steered towards the crime we would be doing something completely different. Maybe...

-

"I don't want to talk about it." Ryan says simply. I roll my eyes.

"Do you ever want to talk about it?"

"No."

"Well you're going to!" I yell in annoyance. He groans and throws his head back.

"I already told you: I'm always going to protect you."

"Yeah, I know that bit. You say it a lot."

"Well what do you want from me?"

"I want a god damn apology." I state simply.

"For what?"

"For how you ended it!"

"That's what this is about?" He seemed shocked generally by my questioning and request from him.

"What else would this be about?"

"Me saving your life!" I roll my eyes again. He grabs my arm hard and makes me look at him. "Don't you dare roll your eyes at me again." I scoff and yank from his grip. My hands go back to the project at hand. "You wanted to talk about, Diane!"

"You didn't!" He's quiet again. "Either way neither of us are happy in the situation." I dip the dollar bill into the solution and watch the green ink slip away. Ryan does his own bill while tension keeps building. "I'm pretty sure those assholes put us on counterfeit duty together to make-up."

"Yeah..." He mutters. I wasn't sure what to get from his tone of voice. The silence continues while we set our cotton paper to the side to dry before we press new ink into it. His hands suddenly stop and curl into fists on the table we worked on. "I'm sorry." It was so low I almost never heard it.

"Thank you." I whisper back. "That's all I wanted to hear." There's silence between us and I smile at it this time. It isn't tense or uncomfortable like it was before but more at ease and relaxed. The paper dries and I grab one of me pieces, placing it under the press for the test sheet. I close the machine onto the cotton and wait a moment before pulling it up. When I examine the product I see the crisp ten dollar bill my press would create on the other unmarked bills. Ryan does the process on his own machine to make five dollars. We had to stick with ten and below because every company checked twenties and hundreds now so we played it safe. We only counterfeit one successful hundred and four twenties. That was thanks to Lindsay, though... She quit the business for her own health and the baby's. Now Ryan and I were stuck on the job.

"They look good." Ryan says softly from beside me to break me from my thoughts.

"Thanks." There's a sudden notification on my phone. I glance over to it and see it's a text from Trevor.

Are you still coming tonight?

I totally forgot that I made a movie date with Team B. I grab my phone and reply with a positive response.

"Who's that?"

"TeyCo." I reply before placing the phone down. "I'm meeting up with him tonight for movie night." Ryan clears his throat and nods while slamming down the press a little too rough.

"That's good. You uh... You need to enjoy life I guess." I arch an eyebrow at him and press down my machine's top. As it inks the cotton laces I cross my arms and look at him.

"Yeah, I do." He seemed off-put by this whole subject.

"So are you guys dating now?" My stomach lurched.

"Ryan, what the actual fuck? You have been pulling me along and hurting me ever since the first time we kissed and now-" I stop when I feel tears coming to my eyes and the press opens to reveal fresh bills. I place the finished items to the side and place new ones on the machine.

"Are you?"

"Why does it matter?"

"Are you dating?" He asks in a louder tone. I bite my cheek and groan, annoyed.

"Yes!" I yell. My heart pounds in my chest. Why did I say that? Why did I lie?

"Okay." His voice went deep. Not hurt deep, but ready-to-kill deep. What the fuck did I get myself into?

-

I pull up to the Team B house and place my forehead on the steering wheel. I didn't tell Ryan the truth. I couldn't. I knew better than to try and tell him one thing when I already said another. This was some seriously deep shit I was getting into. I might as well just dig a grave for myself in the backyard... I step out of the car and lock it. In a small hurry I make it to the door to the safe house of Team B and knock loudly. Within seconds Caleb answers the door. I greet him quickly before pushing past him to immediately find Trevor.

"We gotta situation." I tell him while Caleb closes the door. Mica and Andrew stood off to the side in the kitchen while Kerry and Matt were on the couch. Steffie was now occupying a space by Caleb.

"What's up?" Trevor asks, suddenly worried. "Are you okay?" I shake my head, a panic attack building in my stomach and chest.

"I'm not okay. Now thanks to me neither are you." I breathe deeply and it exits with a shake.

"Woah, okay, calm down and just talk to me, okay?" I nod.

"I told Ryan we were dating." I explain rapidly. I didn't even give myself time to calm down which isn't wise, let me tell ya. My heart rate reached my ears and I was seeing a clouded vision because of tears that gathered in my eyes. Trevor looked over my shoulder to Caleb and Steffie.

"Woah, this is between you guys, now." Caleb says, putting his hands up. Trevor rolls his eyes before returning his attention back to me.

"Why would you go and tell him that?" I try my hardest to clearly explain Ryan yelling at me and pressuring me or an answer. I wasn't ready to admit to Ryan I wouldn't date anyone in hopes of him being in my future. "Okay." He says simply after my story. He places two fingers to his lip while pacing slightly. "Okay, I got it." He returns to stand in front of me. "Tell him how you feel." I stare at him with a hand in my hair.

"Don't you think she would've tried to do that already?" Mica asks with crossed arms. She comes to me from the open kitchen and grabs my shoulders. "Sweetie, get your shit together and focus on me, okay?" I nod and take deep breaths until the only thing on my mind was Mica. "Good. Now, this is gonna sound totally cliché and idiotic, but Trevor, play along." Trevor and I am about to protest but she holds up a finger to shush us. "If you don't play along, things will only be messier between Diane and Ryan. If you do, though-"

"It will give him time to relax." Kerry inputs. He stands from the couch and comes to us the whole crew slowly makes their way to huddle around us. Trevor stares at me and groans, shaking his head.

"What the fuck did you get me into, Diane?" I cover my mouth to hide my ugly frown and he sighs. "I guess." Without any warning I begin to cry into his chest in a tight hug. Trevor chuckles and vibrates my torso. "Alright, come on. Let's make this movie night actually be about the movie." I nod and follow them towards the two couches and two recliners. Mica, Matt, and Kerry all take a seat on one couch while Steffie, Caleb, and Andrew take another. Trevor and I each take a recliner. As I sat there, smiling at the crew and their jokes and how they tried to one up each other in loud voices I almost completely forgot about Ryan. I look over at Trevor and smile lightly. Almost.


	16. Sixteen

"Put the gun down, dammit!" I shout. It's been a week since Trevor and I have been "dating". So far, Mica was right. Ryan began to care less and less about our relationship. In fact, he was almost never around. Jack had opinions on it. Poor Trevor had to hear the dad speech from my big brother. Ryan didn't have to hear it because we were never able to stick it out it seems... Trevor came over to discuss plans for a heist when things got a little out of hand.

"Why should I?"

"Because you're being an idiot, Ryan!" I was standing between Ryan's gun and Trevor, the barrel nearly touching my chest.

"How am I being an idiot? I should shoot both of you and be done here." I step closer and shove the barrel into my forehead.

"Fucking do it." I knew I was now being the idiot but I had to prove a point here. My heart was in my ears and everything was silent. I heard Ryan cock his hammer back and I closed my eyes. I felt a hand on my arm and am yanked from in front of the barrel.

"Alright, that's enough!" Trevor bellows, pushing the loaded gun to the ground and staring Ryan right in the eye. "I'm sorry that you're jealous-"

"Am not!"

"Shut it!" Seeing Trevor this way actually struck slight fear into me. It was a dangerous look he had in his eyes. "I'm okay with you threatening me, but the moment you put a gun to her, that's where I draw the god damn line!" Ryan stays quiet. "For someone who apparently loves Diane, you sure are quick to kill her."

"I wasn't going to." Ryan claims.

"Oh, bullshit. I heard you cock it." I mutter. Trevor looks at me.

"Don't think you're in the clear, either." I stare at him dumbfounded. "I'm sorry, D, but I can't do this anymore." I shook my head.

"Trev-"

"Ryan, Diane told you we were dating when we really weren't. It was Mica's idea for us to play along to see if maybe you cool down with spending time apart." I cover my face and turn from them. "You two have some major fucking issues and I should have known better than to barge in on them. Now, I suggest you two sit your happy-asses down and talk about it!" I look at Ryan and see him avoiding both Trevor and my eyes. Trevor rolls his and grabs both of us by our shirt collars, dragging us to the couch and slamming us down on it as if we were children who were caught fighting. "Talk." He demands. Ryan and I don't look at each other. "Talk, dammit!" I let out a deep sigh.

"I'm sorry I lied to you..." Silence. "I am also sorry for leaving. I'm sorry for a lot of bullshit I've done. Most of all I'm sorry for how I treated you. I'm sure it felt like I used you for everything and for personal gain." Still silent. Well, for a moment.

"I'm sorry that you're a liar and-"

"Haywood." Trevor scolds. Ryan sighs and nods.

"I'm sorry that I made you feel like you had to do those things." This time I'm the quiet one. "I guess I did get a little jealous..."

"Ya think?" Trevor gives me a scolding look now and I sigh. "I want to fix things. Every time I try, though, you throw everything I've done back at me. I'm trying, ya know?" Ryan nods. "I never wanted to end us the first time."

"I didn't either but it seemed right." I clear my throat and nod.

"Yeah. I guess it did."

"Good. Kiss and make-up now." Trevor commands. We share a look before moving our eyes to the lanky man in front of us. "What? I am tired of fighting. It's exhausting." I punch him in his thigh and he chuckles. "Alright, so you guys figure it out from here. I'm outtie." He exits the house while shutting the door calmly behind himself.

"Did you really fake everything because of what Mica said would happen?" I nod and place my jacket sleeve to cover my mouth. "You know, you should know me better than that. I was ready to kill him ya know..." I nod once more and he sighs. "We're a fucking mess aren't we..." I stay quiet as we sit there, unsure of what to say to each other.

"I'm tired, Ryan..." I finally say. "I'm tired of arguing, fighting for what I think will happen... I need a solid answer. A fucking yes or no. That's it." I wait for a moment. "Do you want to be with me?"

"Yes." His answer was quick and firm.

"Will you be with me?" There's a long pause. "Because I will be with you." Still nothing. I sigh and stand. "I understand a solid answer is hard because of this life but I don't want to be dragged around anymore, Haywood. Tell me. Are you done dragging me around? Will you actually be with me?" When he still doesn't respond I go to the blankets thrown about the house. I fold and stack them quietly. My eyes were clouding with tears. My heart was pounding and my lip was trying to quiver without my control. The longer the silence stood the more painful it got. I wanted to feel numb... This moment wasn't supposed to be painful and hard like this. I wanted everything to fix itself. So when he finally spoke, I tried to control my emotions.

"I can't." I close my eyes and clench tightly to the fresh folded blanket atop the stack. The wrinkles ruined the fold and I sighed heavily.

"Okay." I whisper.

"Diane-"

"Don't. Please..."

"Let me at least explain why." Did I really want him to? He took my silent debating as a chance to do so anyways. "I don't want to say I will be with you and me get my dumb ass killed on a job. I don't want to leave you behind. I couldn't cause that kind of pain to you."

"You were going to shoot me." My voice shook as I spun to look at him. "That seems like it would cause a lot of pain, James." I rarely ever used his name unless it was a very serious moment for us.

"I was never going to shoot you." He insists. "I'm incapable of doing it. Trust me, if I really wanted to, I would have." I wasn't sure whether to feel relieved or fearful of his words. Did he try to do it before? "I just don't want you to feel like I left you if something happens."

"I'm going to feel that way anyways, Ryan!" I scream. "I'm done trying and waiting. I fucking told you that. You act like it will be easier if we just cut ties and then go on thinking it never happened. Last time I did that I got nearly killed by the ass-wipe. I suggest changing your mind on that."

"I'm giving you my answer, Diane!" He roars. "Just because it's not the answer you want doesn't mean it's the wrong one!" My heart and gut take turns twisting before I cover my face and rub at the tears falling out of anger and sadness.

"I'm tired..." I whisper. "I'm tired and done. I'm sorry, but if you leave, don't expect to see me again. This time, I'm not coming back."

"So what? You're gonna guilt trip me now?"

"No, I'm not-" I cut myself off. "Never mind. Just go..."

"Don't leave again, Lucille." Hearing my middle name made me look at him with a pang in my heart. "Please." Ryan used my middle name the same as I used his first. Hearing how hurt his voice was made me feel sick. "I love you." I swallowed thickly and clenched my hands into fists.

"I... I'm sorry. I have to if you leave. Nothing will be the same and nothing ever will be." I turn away from him and towards the door. I walk to it and stand there. "Either you give me your real answer or forever hold your peace." Before I turn fully around to face him once more I feel arms swarming around my hips and back to pull me roughly into Ryan's body. I don't hug back. I just stand there with my hands in his chest.

"Please..." I heard the same emotion in his voice and I couldn't help myself but shed a few tears. The emotion was burning up our bodies at this point. I pull back Ryan's head and see fresh tear streaks covering both sides of his face as one tear drips off his chin and onto my shirt.

"I love you, too, Ryan. You know what you're doing to me right now?" He chuckles small and places his forehead against mine. "I'll stay. That's only if you do." Before he can answer, I speak again. "And I know you said you can't, but I don't care if you leave me. Because if the same thing were to happen to me leaving you I have already accepted the hate you'd feel for me and I would want that to fuel your actions and hatred for others." He sighs and tickles my lips and nose with his breath.

"Okay." He says quietly. "I'll stay." I smile small and kiss him gently. He gladly accepts the gesture and follows my moves, syncing with me in the kiss. It turned a bit more meaningful quickly as he grabs my hips and pushes me to the wall. I hit it with a small thud and smile into the kiss. Ryan pulls back and huffs. "What the fuck have you done to me?"

"I guess Vagabond isn't such a hard-ass after all." I say with a small shrug.

-

Ryan and I have been together, again, for about a week and a half now. It was bliss knowing that this wasn't a tug-of-war anymore. Right now we were planning for a new heist. This time it was smaller. It was a few convenient stores and a hairdresser parlor. I was driving in the car with Jack with a computer on my lap and a piece in my ear.

"Team Fam is in position." I report with my finger on my ear. "Team Nice Dynamite?" Gavin and Michael give positive feedback through the earpiece. "Monster Truck are you sure you don't wanna combine?"

"I'm fine, LP. Focus on the others." I nod at Jeremy's answer. "Team Magnum?"

"That's not the name..." Geoff complains. I roll my eyes and sigh.

"Team Magnum Dong?"

"There ya go!" I could hear Ryan chuckling through Geoff's mic.

"Are you in position or not?" I grumble.

"It's cool, LP, we are." Ryan answers.

"Alright, Monster, I'll hit you up when it's time to roll."

"Got it, boss." I smirk and look at Jack.

"Alright. Time to go, brother." He nods and I close the laptop for now. We pull up to the first store. Within seconds I am in and out. It was like instincts by now on robbing places. I sat in the car with the laptop returning to my thighs.

"Is that blood?" Jack questions as he speeds away. I look at my fingers and nod. "I thought this was a no kill."

"It was but the fucker pulled a gun on me. I panicked." He nods and drives off road into the hills and underneath a tree. Once the cops zip by us and to the store he drives onto the backroad beside us. I place my finger to my ear. "Store one cleared. Two and three?"

"Two is still under attack." Gavin answers. I hear his yell for Michael before responding again. "Two clear!"

"Three is now clear!" Geoff responds. I nod and look at Jack.

"Last store. Go." We begin to race off to the last store and I can hear sirens from the other two teams. We were supposed to meet up here and rob it all together until Jeremy could come in with his distraction. Finally we make it to the parlor and Michael and Ryan stay outside while Jack, Geoff, and Gavin all run inside to grab the cash and scatter. I duck behind the bulletproof car I was in just moments ago before pulling out my gun and leaning over the side to shoot at cops that gathered around us. I see and hear choppers above us. Was this a four star? Possibly...

"Go, go, go!" Jack yells while dashing from the store with the other two. I nod and get back into the car. I glance at everyone to make sure they were still safe when they entered the vehicles. When I could have sworn I saw red on Michael's neck I chirped into the earpiece.

"Was that blood on your neck Jones or a paintball?" I yell with sirens blaring.

"Just a graze. I'll be fine." I wasn't sure whether to believe him or not but I called up Caleb to be ready. Because no matter how hard I tried to deny it, Michael wasn't the only one injured. I bit my lip as I looked down to my hip on the right side. I knew it wasn't clean through like my shoulder was but it still hurt like a cunt. I got it from the first store but I've been hiding it to avoid failure. We pull up to the designated meet-up under the pier where Caleb awaited us along with Trevor and Steffie. The other three vehicles pulled in, Jeremy being the last one. We all exit our vehicles and begin to split the cash immediately. I grab my hip and quickly pull my hand away, covering the wound with my black and gold jacket.

"Lemme take a look, Jones." Caleb says while going towards Michael.

"You mothering me, D?" Michael questions. I shrugged and nodded. Jeremy comes over, not yet receiving his cut of the money. I pull cash out of our bag and count it before slapping the stack into his palm. My fingers were tingling when I pull my hand away and I notice Jeremy flick his eyes from the cash to me. I give a confused look until I look down and realize I had gotten my blood on the cash. I hold up my hand.

"From the cashier." Jeremy was about to nod when Jack spoke.

"You didn't have that much on your hand before, Diane." I glance at him and swallow thickly.

"Yeah I did. You just didn't see it." He grabs my bloody hand and places a finger to it.

"That shit is still warm." There's a droplet sound on the top of my boot and I look down to see a dark liquid on the toe of my left shoe. Fuck. Jack immediately pulls back the jacket and I wince at the sudden movement I make. "Why don't you ever tell us when you're hurt?"

"Because then I lose all chances to do anything with you guys!" I argue. "I don't want this to end just because I got shot or cut up bad. I'm in this forever now and nothing is gonna end that." I began to hyperventilate from blood loss and panic. Ryan comes to me and grabs my shoulders firmly.

"We aren't gonna stop you, Diane. Me of all people would be trying right now and you know that." I look at him and nod, calming my beating heart and shaking breaths. "Now next time, fucking tell us." His voice stayed low and calm the entire time but his grip on me said otherwise. Caleb comes over and inspects the open wound quickly.

"Okay, I'm gonna be able to get it out, but I can't make any promises on heal time." I nod and follow Caleb to the car where I lean against it with my shirt up enough to not be in his way. He quickly begins working, everyone trying their hardest to distract me from the pain.

-

For being shot it seemed pretty easy to get around now. Maybe it's because of me being shot before, but we won't get into those times right now. I glance at the clock and saw that it was about the time that the small hit and runs were to happen. I switched the cartoon channel to the news and saw a live high-speed chase. I guess it started earlier than planned... I could see the familiar AH Mobile cruising without a care as bombs flew from all windows along with multiple types of ammo. I watched with a deep intent and realized that they were closing in on the safe house. If they didn't lose these cops anytime soon they wouldn't be able to make it back. I had to think fast. I stood from the couch and swiped my keys off the coffee table. I dashed from the house, locking the door behind me, and rushed to my vehicle. Without hesitation I started up the car and sped towards the crew. When I saw them down underneath the overpass and closing in quickly, I made the quick decision to split my car in between the cops and the crew. I took the construction ramp and dove off, landing heavily with a ringing in my ears in the blink of an eye. The cops slammed on their brakes before focusing more onto me. I glanced up with my head pounding from pain and adrenaline. I rolled down the window that was tinted with pure black just slightly before firing at the cops who have exited their cruisers. I rolled it back up when they turned almost all of their attention on me. Only one chopper and three cars followed the crew now compared to the seven cars and four choppers that were tailing them before. I sped off in the opposite direction as the crew to get the cops off of them even more. Thankfully, it had worked. Unfortunately for me, though, they were more than I could handle. Each time I cut one off, another was right back at my side. I needed back-up, but I couldn't receive any at the moment. I spun the car in a one-eighty before speeding between the vehicles that slammed on the brakes to catch me. I swerved and weaved to where I finally pushed past. I already knew my fate if I didn't make it out of this jam. Prison for life or death sentence. One or the other. Either way, I didn't see a good outcome. I made it down an alley way but with my luck a chopper caught on quickly. I hear my phone going off in my jacket pocket and quickly pull it out as I focus on driving down the long highway. I see that it's Geoff.

"Yo?"

"That better not be you back there, Kid!" I sigh shakily and place the phone on speaker before tossing it onto the passenger's seat.

"It is."

"Have you lost your mind?"

"I did a long time ago, Geoffrey." I comment nonchalantly. The sirens got closer and I blinked harshly a few times. My car was running on fumes of gas by now. I didn't exactly have time to syphon any into my tank for this. I was burning through it like crazy with my car at full speed. "Am I on speaker?" There's a short pause.

"Now you are."

"Alright, so uh... I'm running on fumes right now guys." I tell them. "Not even gonna lie, this isn't gonna end well. Either I die at their hands or by a prison mate's. So uh... I'm gonna say what no one wants to hear." There's multiple shouts of how idiotic I am and I shush them quickly. "You guys would do the same shit for me so shut your fucking mouths and listen! I don't have much time!" They keep silent. "If I'm in prison and you guys don't at least write I'm gonna be upset." Tears were coming to my eyes as I felt the car slowing itself down. I whimper and cough slightly from the lump in my throat. "I'm sorry guys. I had to protect you. You're my family and I love you all. Jack, brother, forever and always family will fight for each other. Geoff... You were like the dad I never got to enjoy. Also my best friend. Thank you for your leadership." I sniffle and push the car harder to speed up and stall my time. "Jeremy, you keep Kat safe you hear me? I don't want to hear about her getting hurt on your watch. Michael, send my photos of the baby when it's born. I don't care if it looks like a potato. You show me that shit." I am now obviously crying with the whimpering and gross noises I am making. "Gavin, I know we didn't bond a lot but you idiot you're amazing and you deserve Meg. Don't let anyone tell you different." I sigh as the car becomes even slower. "Ryan... I love you. Everyone knows it. You're amazing and if I end in the way we all don't want- move on. It'll be easy. I promise." The car spits gas from the pipes before finally ending it's time and coming to a complete stop. Cars surround me and audible yells are coming through the outer shell of the car.

"Diane-"

"Step out of the vehicle!" I unbuckle and slowly do as told with my hands in the air. I place them behind my head and lay on the ground before they force me onto it. They mutter swears and angry phrases as two cops forcefully place my arms down and together so they can cuff my wrists. The last thing I hear from the crew is the signal that the call had dropped. I stare at the underneath of my car until I am hoisted up and slammed into a police cruiser. The door slams in my ear and I stare blankly ahead at my vehicle. I smirk nonetheless at the car.

"I love you guys."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry, I already have the second book planned guys. Look forward to it in the future!


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